02 January 2012, Sweetcrude, Lagos – Members of the National Association of Small Scale Industrialists, NASSI, Tuesday, urged the Nigerian government to ensure effective implementation of the oil and gas sector reforms in the new year.
They made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Lagos and called on President Goodluck Jonathan to expedite action toward finding lasting solution to problems of the oil and gas sector.
Mrs Falilat Balogun, Managing Director, Khary Diary Juice Ltd, implored the Federal Government to take the power sector more seriously in the new year.
She said most companies had stopped production while many others had moved out of Nigeria to places with better operational environment.
Balogun said: “If President Jonathan can fix the epileptic power supply and tackle corruption in the oil and gas sector, we will have a new Nigeria.
Another stakeholder, Mr Abiodun Kasali, the Chief Executive Officer of Sokuslow Construction Ltd, said: “what is important to us at this time is that the power sector should be aggressively tackled.”
He urged the president to focus more on specific areas that would have great impact on the country, such as the implementation of the oil and gas sector reforms and permanent solution to constant power failure in the country.
Mrs Lydia Amos, Managing Director, Limmy Cosmetics Ltd, urged Jonathan to urgently address the epileptic power supply problem and implement the oil and gas sector reforms agenda.
Amos called on the president to create an enabling environment for socio-economic development. “Privatisation of the country’s refineries is the only option towards an effective oil and gas industry.
“Most small scale businesses have closed shop due to the epileptic power supply in the country which I think can be tackled,” she said.
She stated that government’s priorities for now should be on the power sector “because no country triumphs in socio-economic development without effective and efficient power supply”.
