Adaobi Rhema Oguejiofor
The Natural Oil and Gas Suppliers Association of Nigeria (NOGASA) has advised consumers, particularly those residing up north, to prepare for a new round of fuel scarcity.
The National President of NOGASA, Mr. Benneth Korie, stated this at a media briefing in Abuja on Monday, where he listed the problems of failed roads, kidnapping and killing of tanker drivers, in addition to the worsening foreign exchange scarcity, among key issues suffocating the Association.
According to him, the naira has collapsed to an all-time low of about N950 per $1 in the parallel market, amid scarcity in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window, making it difficult to sustain importation and sales with the current template. He added that the roads within the country had remained in a terrible state of disrepair, especially the Warri-Abuja stretch, which calls for urgent interventions to improve the situation.
In his own words, “There’s a need to address that road issue. If not, we may have problems bringing in products. If you observe, you see some filling stations are empty. It’s as a result of that road, they can’t move. The failed roads have detained drivers and trucks for up to two weeks.
“The Warri-Abuja road is a no-go area. Our trucks have been there for the past two weeks, they can’t move. They kidnapped our drivers, killed some of our drivers, vandalized our trucks, and took the products out. Who is paying? Nobody, we’re losing money and here we are talking. Last year, we had this same problem at this same place. I thought that they would do something about it by now.”
On foreign exchange scarcity, the NOGASA President described it as a serious challenge that needs urgent action.
“It is a serious development and we must take action. Call the Bureau de Change (BDCs), call the Managing Directors (MDs) of banks to sit with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and come out with one price, one uniform price that will be okay for them so that at the end of the day they will come out and say, this is how much the dollar will be. I know they will tell you, the demands and supply aspects and all that. This is not our money. They can sit down and say, look, this is how much we will collect.
“If you want to sell to us, this is how much we will buy from you. And if you want to sell, do not sell for more than this price. And that way, they can control the dollar. Yes, Mr. President, say free the naira. But the way it is going, it will destroy a lot of things for us,” he explained.
Korie, while speaking about the moribund refineries, advised the Federal Government to look inwards as Nigeria boasts of capable engineers that could fix them.
