Francis Okeke
15 November 2009
Abuja — Trade Union Congress (TUC) sources yesterday revealed to Daily Trust that the union declined a meeting with the Federal Government's team this week to discuss government's plans to deregulate the downstream petroleum sector.
The government's team led by the Minister of Finance Mansur Mukthar met with the Central Working Committee of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) last week and was told by the NLC to fix the myriad problems facing the nation before they begin talks of deregulation. However, the source told Daily Trust that TUC declined the meeting because government was "turning the whole issue into a media issue but we are saying that they know what to do. They were likely going to meet us this week but we put it off.
"We don't want to have a meeting where the whole media are gathered and we talk and at the end of the day nothing tangible comes out of it"
The source said the TUC's decision was also influenced by its desire to first meet with the NLC so as to approach the government team from a common position of all labour unions and civil society organisations that have vehemently opposed the policy of deregulation.
"Well, basically, both NLC and TUC have to meet first before we meet them. We don't want all these propaganda stunts that they are pulling off and we seem to be falling for it. "All TUC wants them to do is that if they are coming to us, they should read what our President wrote on the back page of Thisday newspaper recently. That is a clear way of how we can move forward."
TUC's President General Comrade Peter Esele had in a newspaper publication called for a comprehensive audit by the Federal Government of the money it claims it uses to subsidise the downstream oil sector.
Part of the publication reads; "this audit, just as Mr President thought from the onset, is a necessary pre-requisite to a successful deregulation.
"Nigerians need to know the extent to which the subsidy payments of the last few years have gone into private pockets so that restitution can be fully made.
"We can only have a clean and successful deregulation after we name and shame the cats that have fed fat on poor Nigerians through fraudulent and corruptive rent seeking at the expense of millions of struggling Nigerians while making it difficult for our industries to function, make a profit and put Nigerians to work.
"We should not and must not allow the ills of the past be carried into the future. It is important to
ensure that the future deregulated or not is not polluted by fraudsters parading as petroleum product importers. "We must ensure that the current importation and product reception regime and processes are carefully studied and their inefficiencies and corruptive elements highlighted so that they are not transferred to a deregulated environment" Esele had written.
The source told Daily Trust that TUC believes that auditing the entire process will lead to a reduction of up to N20 on the current pump price of petroleum products and not the other way round
"We still believe that if they do the audit, we can still knock off between N10 to N20 from the price. We are convinced beyond every reasonable doubt that that N680 billion they claim for subsidy, 40% of it got into some people's pocket.
"TUC is convinced that is what happened and that 40% of that amount cannot be traced to any subsidy for any product.
"What we are basically talking about is that the audit will correct a lot of problems in the industry and it would also help Nigeria because if they say they want to deregulate, it will also help Nigeria in a deregulated market and we will be able to have a tangible basis on things we can hold government responsible for." Speaking to Daily Trust yesterday on phone yesterday, TUC President Peter Esele declined comment on any friction between it and government's team saying that both sides would meet at a convenient time, adding that the meeting may likely come up next week.
Esele added that "we always tell them that deregulation is not a bad concept. Our only beef with the government is the way they are going about it because at the end of the day, it is as if they are running away from a problem.
"We must be able to face the problem, confront the problem and solve the problem. That is the way we look at the problem."
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