The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior, Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), yesterday decried Nigeria’s current debt stock of N77 trillion, describing it as a calamity of the highest proportion.
PENGASSAN raised the alarm during its 7th Triennial National Delegates’ Conference (NDC) 2023, which held in Abuja, with the theme: ‘Equity and Social Justice; Advocacy for Equal Opportunities for all Workers’.
Speaking during the event, the PENGASSAN President, Comrade Festus Osifo, said Nigeria’s current total public debt profile is quite alarming, mostly when compared to the cost of servicing the debt to the revenue generated by Government per annum.
According to Osifo, Nigeria would be using virtually all the monies generated as a country in servicing of debt in the 2023 Budget, as current debt profile as at the first quarter of 2023 is mind-blowing and may take several generations to repay them, stressing that it will be a calamity of the highest proportion unless the country does all it can to increase the revenue base.
He said, “According to the Debt Management Office (DMO), the country’s Total Public Debt profile, representing the Domestic and External Debt Stocks of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), the thirty-six (36) State Governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) currently stand at 77trillion Naira”.
The PENGASSAN boss also noted that the current state of the nation’s economy is of great concern to the association. According to him, PENGASSAN expected to see steady growth in GDP, increase access to employment for the country’s teeming population and diversification of the economy but unfortunately, all that had been witnessed are poor implementation of both fiscal and monetary policies; adding ‘policy inconsistencies have continued to militate against Nigeria’s projected growth and development as a nation’.
On the issue of Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), Osifo, urged the incoming administration to fast-track the implementation of different sections of the Act to the benefit of Nigerians.
The PENGASSAN boss however, expressed enthusiasm over the current rehabilitation going on in refineries, most especially the Port Harcourt Refinery.
He further said, “The incoming government must do all within its reach to see to the conclusion of the current rehabilitation effort and initiatives that is currently in place so that our nation’s refinery will come up in no time.
“We welcome the bold move by operators of Dangote Refinery coming on stream soon and hope that its addition will enhance local production, reduce products importation as well as end the era of uncertainties in petroleum products pricing and evils of subsidy payment”, he stated.
