Abuja — Unimpressed by the reasons advanced so far by the Federal Government in its plan to totally deregulate the petroleum downstream sector, the Nigerian Labour Congress has accused the ruling Peoples Democratic Party of devising a plot to stash away funds for the 2011 polls.

To this end, the NLC's Acting President, Comrade Promise Adewusi, said the Congress has mobilised the masses and the civil society allies to resist any attempt by government to proceed with the deregulation.

He said a mass rally would hold in Abuja on the 29th of this month.

But the PDP has debunked the allegation, saying that deregulation, commercialisation and privatisation have been part of the nation's lexicon for over 15 years.

The National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Prof. Rufai Ahmed Alkali, told LEADERSHIP, "I do not believe that it is the president or the acting president of NLC that said this, because the issue of deregulation, commercialisation and privatisation have been in the lexicon of Nigerian literature for over 15 years.

"All what the Federal Government is doing is to create conducive environment for the citizenry to live better.

"PDP has more noble ways of generating funds for political programmes. In any case, 2011 is not on the card at the moment. We want the NLC to continue to co-operate with the Federal Government so that we can move our country forward."

Speaking with LEADERSHIP in Abuja, the acting president of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Promise Adewusi, described deregulation as a bad advertisement since government is faced with the challenge of winning the confidence of Nigerians on the programme.

Adewusi, who spoke on the outcome of a meeting between the government and Labour on Friday, said, "Well, basically I think they wanted to acquaint us with their reform in the petroleum industry, particularly as it affects the downstream sector and also to deny that what we found in the newspapers were mere speculations that they have not taken a date for the commencement of the policy."

Those at the meeting were the ministers of Petroleum, Finance, Labour and the Group Managing Director of NNPC, while the Labour team included NLC general-secretary and the NLC acting president, who led the Labour team.

Adewusi also expressed fears that the urgency with which government is carrying out its action was worrisome, adding, "Whether they go ahead or not, on the 29 of this month we are mobilising the Nigerian people in a very massive rally in Abuja against the total deregulation of the downstream sector."

He explained further, "We are not opposing government for the purposes of just opposition, but we are opposing based on altruistic and egalitarian bases. The Nigerian people are already over-burdened with poverty and misery. We cannot afford to watch government increase this suffering and pain on our people.

"If your challenge is how to win the confidence of Nigerians, then deregulation is a very bad advertisement because of the centrality of oil in the economic calculation. Oil has become like the nerve centre, once you touch it, you touch every other part of the body.

"Nigeria has become a generator-driven economy. Industries are closing down because there is no electricity. Those that are managing to run are grappling with high cost of production, where power cost alone takes as much as 58 per cent. So, at what profit do they want to pay?

"Industries shut down and there is no work. This result in unemployment and we have social vices and you want to further increase the problem. Prices of products in all aspects of life, house rent, and transportation and food prices have increased.

"We should build our refineries to export refined fuel to other countries. We need political will to do that because it has become a way of finding jobs for the boys as a way of political patronage.

"We also suspect that all the sing-song about the deregulation is to try to empower some people in accumulating money in readiness for 2011 general elections. So it is an empowerment process for the boys, as it were, to the detriment of the people."