Beyond semantics, only repair of refineries, pipelines solution to fuel crisis—PENGASSAN
Beyond the federal government’s silence on real issues causing the intractable scarcity of fuel since the upward journey of crude oil price which remains the sorry state of national refineries still three year in the life of the current government, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), has called for the rehabilitation of the refineries, depots, pipelines and other oil and gas infrastructures as the solutions to the current fuel scarcity in the country.
At the recent Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS), government officials were finding it very to convince participants on why the refineries failed to work more than halfway into the life of the current ‘Change’ administration.
In his face-saving remarks, the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachukwu said the industry is in need of over $100bn private sector investment in a number of years, but was silent on the fate of failing four national refineries at a time the National Assembly has halted moves by the NNPC to throw another billion of dollars in repairing the refineries upon previous billion spent without any result due to corruption.
In their presentation when they paid courtesy visits to the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, Petroleum Equalisation Fund, Petroleum Training Development Fund, Petroleum and Pipelines Marketing Company, and the House of Representatives, PENGASSAN averred that the current fuel scarcity and the attendant man-hours plus energy Nigerians were losing to queuing in filling stations remain an embarrassment to the nation.
A statement by the Public Relations Officer of the trade union, Fortune Obi, the PENGASSAN President, Olabode Johnson, called for real fight against corruption within the process of reviving the four failed refineries.
Nigerian remains the only top crude exporter that imports refined products across the world in the 21st century.
