Mohammed Shosanya
The National President, Nigerian Gas and Oil Suppliers Association (NOGASA),has lamented that Nigeria’s hostile economic environment will collapse its operation.
Its President,Chief Bennett Korie,who disclosed this at a press conference on Tuesday in Abuja,blamed the rising cost of diesel and the high dollar rate for the worsening petrol price in the country.
He warned that should the Federal Government fail to address the challenges, the hostile business environment will naturally liquidate marketers of petrol to fold up before the end of February 2024.
He implored the Federal Government to impose price regulation on Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) diesel, proposing capping its pump price similar to that of petrol.
He said: “Fix that diesel problem then PMS will be stable. If NNPCL will keep the PMS Price from June to date, is there anything wrong with doing it for AGO?
“So, let the government, if the government wants to be fair, wants to do the deregulation proper, the diesel too should go the same way PMS is going.
“Heavens will not fall if you sell AGO N650/litre. The same magic that they have in PMS, the government should apply it on AGO, and then you should see things ease.”
He urged the government to adopt the N750/$ 2024 Budget exchange rate benchmark as its official exchange rate in order to tame the worsening exchange rate crisis.
He disclosed that most private refineries including the modular ones are afraid to commence production because they are not sure of the price to fix.
According to him,some agencies as the Nigeria Ports Authority and the Nigerian Maritime and Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) are still collecting their payments in dollars to aggravate the forex challenge.
He urged the government to intervene in the bank interest rate, which is also accountable for the current hostile business environment in the country.
He also advised the government to do all its domestic crude oil transactions in Naira to lessen the scarcity of dollar.
On how to adopt the Naira as the currency for crude oil business in the country, he said: “If you are buying crude oil from the government you pay in dollar so how are you rate how much you are going to sell how much it is going to be tomorrow. So, it is going to affect you tomorrow.
“If we have one price from the government then when you are buying crude oil from the government, from NNPCL, you multiply it by the government rate and then you convert Naira and begin to sell to Nigeria in Naira.”
He also urged the Federal Government to pay the outstanding bridging claims to marketers,adding that the government should “reintroduce and strengthen the Petroleum Equalization Fund to enable marketers to recoup and reinvest their funds for the benefit of the industry and economy.”
Korie also urged the government to fix the roads in the country in other to reduce the tear and wear of the trucks
