Francis Okeke
11 November 2009
The government yesterday tried to sell deregulation to labour when top officials addressed the Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting of the Nigeria Labour Congress and argued that the measure is not about increasing the price of petroleum products but about tackling the challenges in the sector.
Minister of Petroleum Rilwanu Lukman and his Minister of State Odein Ajumogobia, Minister of Labour Adetokunbo Kayode and the Minister of Finance Dr. Mansur Mukthar, as well as the Group Managing Director (GMD) of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Mr. Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo yesterday had in an interactive session with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) at the union's headquarters in Abuja. The meeting was at the behest of the Federal Government
The NNPC boss explained that the structural and managerial challenges under which the refineries have been operating necessitated the need to evolve an effective vehicle for product delivery at the highest value to Nigerians.
He said "what we intend to do now in accordance with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Bill which is also predicated on a deregulated environment, is to change the model of operation, the business model.
"We will capitalise these refineries, we will provide them with the financial autonomy that they require, with the operational independence to take prompt commercial decisions not referring to higher authorities because these are highly technical plants that are supposed to operate as commercial ventures and therefore the external interference that we have been having will now be brought to a halt through the PIB.
Barkindo advised that deregulation of the downstream sector should not be looked at from a narrow perspective stressing that "we have to look at it from a holistic perspective and I am glad that this meeting with the NLC is gradually building that consensus."
He denied the N104 pump price being speculated for petrol saying that people should not focus on imaginary figures
On his part, Petroleum Minister Rilwanu Lukman appealed said deregulation is the only way out and the policy is not an attempt by government to further impoverish the people.
"The truth of the matter is that deregulation ultimately is inevitable if we want to go forward. This is not done as a target to hit the people or impoverish the people and you should know you cannot address the problems in a day.
"In the long run, our citizens will benefit because the ordinary people we are trying protect with the subsidy are not getting benefits of the subsidy and we will continue to use this dialogue to make people see reason as to why the subsidy is not in their best interest."
On his part, Minister of Finance said the money that would be saved from deregulation would be used to address infrastructural challenges facing the country. He said the savings would be channelled into railway modernisation and expansion, power generation and supply, road construction and provision of basic social amenities.
However, members of NLC Central Working Committee led by NLC's President Omar Abdulwahed expressed scepticism with the ministers' proposals saying that infrastructural decay should be tackled first for government to have the moral right to talk of deregulation.
The meeting continues today.
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