The Chairman, Gas Users Group, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Dr Micheal Ola Adebayo has said more firms are set to close shop following the scarcity and high cost of gas in the country, The Nation reports.
Adebayo said: “Manufacturers are constrained to draw the attention of the Federal Government and the general public to the issue of persistent increase in the price of natural gas used by manufacturers to power their plants and machinery by the gas franchisers. Some of our members are about to shut down their operations due to non-supply of gas to power their operations on one hand and the current exorbitant and dollarisation pricing of the available ones on the other”.
Adebayo said that the incessant increase in the price of gas will not only be punitive but add to the woes of the sector. According to him, the high cost of gas has led to high production costs with energy now accounting for over 45 per cent of total production cost.
He added that it has contributed to low capacity utilisation in the factories and made locally produced goods to become uncompetitive.
