The Natural Oil and Gas Suppliers Association of Nigeria (NOGASA) has said that the foreign exchange volatility in Nigeria and the recent implementation of a 7.5 per cent Value Added Tax on Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), popularly called diesel, has skyrocketed the cost of the commodity to between N900 and N950/ litre in many states.
The National President, NOGASA, Benneth Korie, during a media briefing, said the cost of diesel was around N650/litre before the Federal Government introduced a 7.5 per cent VAT on the commodity.
He pleaded with President Bola Tinubu to get Nigeria’s refineries working adding that the pressure by marketers and other importers on dollars would reduce when Nigeria’s refineries resume operations. He lamented that many of the Nigerian roads are bad.
He specifically identified the Port Harcourt-Warri road as among the roads that are bad, adding that about 500 tankers were trapped on the Port Harcourt road as a result of its bad state.
Korie said: “Diesel price is now approaching N900 to N950/litre depending on where you are buying it from. Before the introduction of VAT on diesel by the FIRS, diesel was around N650/litre.
“This increase in price is also due to the scarcity of the dollars. The government has to intervene in this dollar situation. All bank CEOs, the Central Bank of Nigeria and others must meet to address this dollar issue. The way it is going, it will destroy a lot of things for us if it is not controlled.
“Our refineries were built by human beings and can be fixed by human beings. I believe Nigerian engineers can fix these refineries, instead of us depending on imports. This is not sustainable.
“We are pilling pressure on the very limited dollars in the country by importing petroleum products and other commodities. But once our refineries start working, this pressure will drastically reduce. The government has to fix our refineries.”
He added: “For two weeks now our tankers have been on that road; you can’t cross it. Our roads are bad, our trucks are trapped on the Warri-Abuja road for two weeks, our drivers are kidnapped, killed, and others suffer.
SOURCE: newtelgraphng.com