The Gas Consumers Group of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has stated that distributors of liquefied natural gas have been ripping them off as they are being made to pay for gas consumption in US dollar equivalence. Speaking to the Nation, the CEO and the Managing Director of NISPO, Afam Mallinson Ukatu, regretted that his sort of manufacturing is the worst hit.
Ukatu noted; “Our own type of manufacturing is a little different from others, this is because in tiles manufacturing, you need to have constant supply of power for 24 hours. It is not just 24 hours light that you will have, but you will be able to heat up your furnace to a certain degrees before you start production.
“Unfortunately, Shell which is our source of gas supply, do not consider our losses should they turn off the supply to enable them maintain their system. Absolutely, there is no way you can turn off your gas generation for one minute, which means that it has to be on for 364 days in a year. The worst of it all is that each time there is a short-down, it takes about 10 days to start production, and for those 10 days it will take before you re-start your production, you will be paying your bills. It takes 10 days because you need to heat up your furnace to the required temperature before you can start with your production,” he stressed.
In a related development, the Chairman, Gas Consumers Group of MAN, Dr. Michael Adebayo commended the government for reviewing the price of gas downwards, adding that the local distributors have not adjusted their price.
He said, “They are still supplying us gas at the old rate instead of the new rate which was reviewed downwards to $3.85/kcf, though the government has promised to enforce it. The government gazette No.2 of January 2019, Vol. 106,Gas Pricing for Textiles and Manufacturing Sector, which was signed by the Honourable Minister of State, Petroleum Resources stated that $3.85/kcf shall take effect from first of January, 2018. The variance shall be reconciled and paid within 10 months commencing from first January 2019.”
The Chairman said, “Our position is that the Nigerian gas marketing company should support the government to make sure that manufacturers continue to survive. We are running in a difficult time and we would not want to send our workers into the labour market or to retrench them. To avoid this, we have been sending our workers to compulsory annual leave, even up to 2020 annual leave to save the situation instead of sending them home, because we are passing through difficult times.
“We are advocating for tax holiday of at least three to five years to enable us recuperate. We need tax holiday, even if it is five years or minimum of three years so that we can survive. We are in comatose and if the government should do this, we would be able to recover. So, this will help us to achieve the objective of the government,” he stated. The Nation
