Charity Nwakaudu and Chetachukwu Amoke
The Natural oil and Gas Suppliers Association of Nigeria (NOGASA) has vowed to sanitise the oil and gas industry by ridding it of unwholesome products and practices through constant education of members.
Vice Chairman of the Association, Mr. Abdulahi Idris, who made this known, in Abuja, on Thursday, said the association had been inundated with complaints from the public over the high number of substandard products in the country.
He added that the issue of product diversion will be tackled headlong to restore the good image of the players in the sector.
According to him, the association was formed to unite all the oil and gas suppliers and stakeholders, adding that the bond of unity was vital to take the sector to the next level.
He said, “When you form unity in Nigeria, you educate yourself. It helps to develop and fight against the challenges in the business.
“It also helps to clean up the system because it has so many challenges. That is why we are coming out to create awareness through seminars to educate our members, to remove fake products and bring sanity to the system.
“We are tired of a lot of complaints of low quality and scarcity of petroleum products in Nigeria. We are also tired of stories of diversion of products to neighbouring countries. We need to educate ourselves because a lot of members don’t even have the knowledge of this oil and gas industry before going into the business.
“Most members just register their companiee and start supplying products to other companies and agencies without knowing what they are supplying and how the DPR works with regards to quality check or how the nation works on refinery issues.
“We formed this association to maintain the integrity of members through flushing out of bad eggs and making sure there are no irregularities.
“The responsibilities of the government is too much because everybody is working alone but with the formation of this kind of association, it will work together with the government to bring positive change”, Idris stated.
He said with an association like NOGASA, there should be no scarcity of petroleum products because even the NNPC needs to be advised by people who are practically involved in the business
In his remarks, chairman of the association, Chief Edison Nwosu, added that NOGASA would be having its election and inauguration on the 21st of July to select new officials that will man the body.