| TUC supports House
of Reps position on deregulation
By BIMBOLA OYESOLA
Monday, November
30, 2009
|
•Photo:
Sun News Publishing |
|
The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has commended the
recent outburst from members of the House of Representatives
over the handling of the much talked about deregulation of
the downstream sector of the nation’s petroleum industry
by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Rilwanu Lukman, and
the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC).
“We commend the House for its forthrightness in telling
both Lukman and the NNPC that they are causing unnecessary
panic in the country. Today we are faced by unjustifiable
increase on the official pump price of petroleum products
throughout the country and would therefore ask the minister
whose interest he is representing”, the Congress demanded.
TUC maintained that the issue of deregulation must be predicated
on certain factors to avoid the pitfall of the past which
pauperized the masses.
In the Congress own words; “That our refineries are
not working after billions of naira were wasted on Turn-Around-Maintenance
(TAM), some carried out under Dr Lukman as minister and supervised
by NNPC.
It is on record that a whooping sum of $7.5m was spent on
Kaduna TAM which today has failed to work.
“It is baffling and laughable therefore to listen to
the minister and his co-travelers in the NNPC blaming the
problems of the sector on corruption and sharp practices when
in actual fact nobody, organization or agency have been queried
or prosecuted for engaging in this act of economic sabotage.
Rather it is the hapless owners of this God given resources
that are being prosecuted and executed at random.
“Why haven’t the minister and the numerous agencies
under him faction out ways to deal with these so-called criminals
or sponsor legislations to stop their activities. Why is it
hard to revoke licenses of Filling stations that deliberately
hoard or sell products above the recommended prices?
The Congress also demanded that before full deregulation,
federal government must first of all put in place necessary
measures to cushion its effects, stressing that the rail and
other transportation systems must be functional.
Noting that when there is an effective transportation, Nigerians
will definitely abandon Filling stations and their cars for
it and there will be less traffic on our roads.
It harped that Nigeria does not need to be a big consumer
of petroleum products; rather the country should be a major
exporter of the product to nations that are disadvantaged
while the proceeds should be used in the development of the
country.
“Today we are rated as a failed state despite our huge
human and material resource. We wonder what will happen when
our oil and gas finally dries up in the coming years”
the Congress lamented.
The Congress therefore demanded that the deregulation exercise
should be suspended until all grey areas identified by labour,
National Assembly, and other interest groups that are opposed
to it are sorted out.
“Also, the NNPC and other agencies interested on this
matter must embark on a public enlightenment campaign of not
less than 90 days to educate Nigerians on why the exercise
is necessary. Until our positions are met, we will continue
to oppose this attempt aimed at further impoverishing our
citizens whom we have vowed to protect,” the Congress
promised.
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