Petroleum and Natural Gas Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN),says the ongoing attempt by the federal government to deregulate the oil industry while the country largely depends on importation of petroleum products due to the poor state of the refineries.
President of the union,Comrade Festus Osifo,disclosed this at a panel of discussants at the 2021 National Association of Energy Correspondent Strategic International Annual Conference with a theme, PIA: Energy Transition
He maintained that while organized labour is not opposed to deregulations, it is difficult for the government to transfer its inefficiencies to the masses,which manifested in the sorry state of the nation’s refineries.
According to him, the organized labour told the government is that fix the refineries, when the refineries are working we would support you to deregulate, that what they don’t want is import drive deregulation. But it should be based on local production.
He added:“If the refineries were working I don’t think that the labour organizations would oppose deregulation”. He said mid nineties the direction of labour has been government why not fix the refineries. So that the foreign component that goes into the costing would be eliminated.
Just imagine today, people working in refineries are Nigerians, you will pay them in Naira. So when you are, when the dollar is appreciated against the Naira, at the end of the day, the manpower is stabilized. The cost of labour is in Naira and not in dollars. So the only thing you now price in dollar is the cost of crude oil.”
He lamented that there has been trust deficit between the government and the people over the years,adding that there was need to change this orientation with a view to enabling the two parties strike equilibrium for national development.
Speaking,Olufisayo Duduyemi, chief strategy officer Axxela Limited, in his comment, said in the context of the energy transition, it is acknowledged that there would be a significant reduction in the use of fossil fuel in the years ahead and urged Nigerian to switch over to natural gas as fuel of choice.
According to him, it is through the usage of natural gas that Nigerians can experience some soft landing from the effects and impact of full deregulation of the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry.
He emphasized the need for the country’s gas resources to be harnessed and monetized.
He added: “Let us put gas into our processes and industries. By so doing cost of production would reduce, cost of commodities would drastically reduce and would become more available to the masses, this is the role natural gas is playing now and in the future,” he said.
In his contribution, Wiebe Boer, Chief executive officer of All On, an investment company,said renewable energy is the future of energy
According to him, if Nigeria so much time as a country figuring out this problem on an industry that is currently losing momentum or becoming outdated in the world, the country would be left behind in the energy transition .
He also advocated for total deregulation also in the power sector so that the economy can just move in the direction it should move.
He said there is a lot of interested parties are coming into the market and this is a big opportunity for Nigeria.
He stated that some downstream companies with petrol stations are thinking of transforming those petrol stations from just selling petrol to providing services in areas such as renewable so that Nigeria can key in into the drive of renewable.
Adeola Yusuf, team lead,Platform Africa,maintained that lack of trust has been the reason why the people are not supporting government.
He said the government has been talking to people and not communicating with them.
904700cookie-checkWe Wont Condone Import-Driven Deregulation-PENGASSAN
