Business
PENGASSAN Outlines Challenges In Oil, Gas Sector
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), has outlined some challenges facing the oil and gas sector of the nation’s economy.
In a statement by its National President, Comrade Francis Johnson on Friday, in Port Harcourt, said some of the challenges in the oil and gas sector include crude oil theft, subsidy payment controversies, pipeline vandalisation, persistent scarcity of petroleum products, non-functionality of the nation’s refineries, illegal transfer of oil blocks by privileged Nigerians. He said others are irregular joint venture (JV) funding and inadequate funding of government agencies in the oil and gas sector.
The PENGASSAN boss said that these challenges noticeable in the oil and gas sector were compounded by insecurity and instability of the operational environment essentially the pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft.
Johnson explained that uncertainty, lack of clarity and executive fat reign in the government process and procedures of administering the sector.
He said the hope of sanitizing the oil and gas sector is still dashed while rules and procedures should have been based on the rule of law and due process.
He urged the new administration to declare a state of emergency in the oil and gas sector to lift the sector from dwindling fortunes.
He called on stakeholders in the sector to come up with concrete and sustainable steps that would guarantee total stoppage of both petroleum products importation and fuel subsidy.
Johnson further stressed that the union would support the Federal Government to find lasting solution to the problem and plethora of issues in the oil and gas sector and the Nigerian economy in general.
He said PENGASSAN would support any well coordinated measures with timeline to achieve self-sufficiency in the sector and proffer acceptable steps to end fuel scarcity in the country.