The National Oil and Gas Suppliers Association of Nigeria (NOGASA) has hinted that its services will be naturally withdrawn by the end of February, 2004 should the Federal Government fails to address the high cost challenges currently faced by stakeholders in the oil and gas industry .
The National Association of Transport Owners have already withdrawn her services for the same reasons .
National President NOGASA Benneth Korie at a press conference on the state of the nation did not only back the decision of NATO, it also stressed that the federal government should immediately declare a state of emergency on Nigerian refineries as well as ban the use of Dollars as legal tender in the local activities of key agencies of government such as NIMASA and Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
According to the NOGASA president, the rising of Dollars exchange rate has brought an untold hardship on Nigerians and consequently affected the operations of stakeholders in the oil industry.
According to him,”we have no business trading with the Dollar and this is the time for the Government to do all that is necessary to ensure that we use Naira in all our local transactions.
“The Government must as a matter of urgency stick to the Dollar exchange as contained in the 2024 budget , you cannot base your budget on a certain exchange rate and dump it for numerous exchange rates that are not captured in the budget”.
He maintained that the only solution for the lingering crisis is for the country to refine locally while crude be sold in naira.
He equally urged Government to reintroduce the bridging policy to arrest the hardship being experienced by Nigerians.
He said the high cost of petroleum products especially diesel (AGO) has reached an alarming rate that must be addressed immediately.
He advised that bad road networks and insecurity have fueled the sky-rocketing cost of products that are not produced locally.
“We need to declare a state of emergency to revamp the three refineries and export pet products to earn foreign currencies, encourage modular refineries and adequate supply of crude to the refineries .
“High cost of bank loans is another major problem the Government must address”.
