Group wants FG to declare war on illegal transactions in oil sector

From Ifeoma Ejiofor

The National Association of Surface Tank Oil and Gas Retailers of Nigeria(NASTOGRN) has asked the Federal Government to declare war on illegal transactions going on in the oil sector.

The president of NASTOGRN, Nze Ibeneme Frank, made the call during a sensitization programme organized in partnership with the National Orientation Agency, Anambra State Directorate.

He said that the country will begin to do better in the oil and gas sector once sharp practices such as smuggling, bunkering, and adulteration among others are eliminated from the system.

Nze Frank however appealed to the government at all levels to protect his members from intimidation and unnecessary harassment from the security agencies even as he called on FG to establish surface tanks calibration and fabrication centers across the country.

He pointed out that NASTOGRN is organizing a sensitization seminar in the thirty six states of the federation across the country for the oil and gas industries, as well training her teeming members on healthy and safety environment to ensure total safety practices at oil and gas installations.

Nze Frank said that with the establishment of the tank farms and mini distribution centers for petroleum products storage across the country, the retailers will have access to PMS, DPK, AGO and LPG and grease with ease.

He revealed that NASTOGRN was established in line with the initiatives of the Federal Government to grow the downstream sector of oil and gas industry so as to boost availability of the petroleum products, create jobs and improve socio-economic development of the country.

In his remarks, the Anambra State Director of National Orientation Agency (NOA) Mr. Edozie Ajaegbu, described the sensitization seminar as an eye opener.

Mr Ajaegbu noted that the programme was a compendium of knowledge, as it exposed the participants to the nitty-gritties in the oil and gas industry, urging the participants, especially the Community Orientation and Mobilization Officers of the Agency to take the messages emanating from the programme to the grassroot.