From Uche Usim, Abuja

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The Coalition of Nigerian Civil Society Organisations for Petroleum and Energy Security (CONCSOPES) has urged the organised labour and other sections of Nigeria kicking against deregulation of the downstream sector to quit playing blind opposition but join forces with the Federal Government to achieve a win-win deregulated environment.
The convener of CONCSOPES, Mr Timothy Ademola, gave the charge yesterday at a media briefing in Abuja.
According to him, deregulation of petrol was long overdue stressing that subsidy remains an economically injurious scheme.
He noted that with the agitation of labour for the rollback of deregulation, NNPC will inadvertently have to absorb the cost of the price differential between landing cost and pump price.
This, he added, would put the NNPC in a very bad spot financially and eventually lead to a situation where it would be difficult to further import products.
“The obvious implication of that will be fuel scarcity and the return of fuel queues. If this happens, organized labour that is presently resisting deregulation would be forced to castigate NNPC for not supplying enough fuel to guarantee zero fuel queues and for not making a profit at the end of its financial year,” Ademola explained.
He added that the situation calls for a new and bold approach, even as he suggested that labour should not just constitute downright opposition to deregulation, but partner with government on how to best achieve patriotic, people-centred deregulation; leveraging the new government policy for the soon resumption of Nigerian refineries, the approval of modular refineries, and the welcome development of Dangote Mega Refinery.
Also speaking at the event, an oil and gas expert, Mr Ademola Adigun, stated that subsidy only favours the rich and the middle class who make up less than 20 per cent of the Nigerian population.