Abuja — From indications and pronouncements of the federal government, there's no-going back on deregulation. Deregulation has come to stay and so would it be! The president himself has affirmed it several times that government's decision on deregulation was "inevitable". Nigerians had better start accepting the reality of the deregulation policy on the downstream sector.

The corollary to the deregulation option actually has its genesis from the government of Olusegun Obasanjo when the then government was confronted with the problem of scarcity of petroleum products and it then frantically explored means of ending it scarcity while it searched for means of making the products available in the short term and finding a lasting solution in the long run.

Consequently, a committee was set up and chaired by (I think) Funsho Kupolokun. The committee recommended the holistic deregulation of the downstream sector as the most viable panacea to the problems associated with scarcity of petroleum products. Accordingly, the committee highlighted in it's submission that though the policy was going to come with pains in the initial stages of implementation, competition would later on force the players in the sector to be consumer friendly and water down the prices of petroleum products to prices that would be accepted and affordable to the citizens and scarcity of petroleum products would become a thing of past.

The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and other civil society organization are rejecting the deregulation of downstream because government is refusing to do its homework. Implementation of the policy in itself is appearing to be autocratic in nature. Government wants to go about deregulation as if it is not governing a nation of enlightened minds in the 21st century. Most Nigerians are suspicious of the government, they believe that government is deregulating because it doesn't want to pay the subsidies it has been paying to the sector over the years and this have been having direct impact on the lives of the citizen. Government on the other hand is saying continuous subsidization is unrealistic and cannot continue.

That between 2006 and 2008 it has expended 1.2 trillion naira on subsidy and this year alone, it has spent not less 620 billion naira to pay subsidies. Government is also contending that, what it pays in subsidies would be better utilized in the provision and maintenance of critical infrastructure (I hope this is true and if it actually is, we all would be better for it). We are all witnesses to the deplorable state of the nation's infrastructures that have gone comatose and caused businesses to migrate to Ghana and other African countries where infrastructures are better provided. The deregulation policy is one of the economic orthodoxies propounded by Adam Smith in which he emphasized the role of the private sector and the forces of demand and supply (market forces) in the economic development of a nation. It is neo-liberal in nature, it place's premium on removal of government regulations and paving way for active participation and competition by the private sector.

Yes, I agree with the government that deregulation is the answer and it should deregulate because it will create competition as against the present status quo in the provision of petroleum products. It will lead to broadening of choices as the government is saying especially as it is in the communication sector. Resources used for subsidies can also be channelled to give the nation's infrastructures a deserving deal.

However, government must not deregulate by appearing to be somewhat extricating itself from the welfare of its citizens, as the NLC and other civil society organizations have argued. Government is aware of the cartel that has fed fat for decades on importation of refined petroleum products which informed its decision deregulate as a way of finding lasting solution to problems in the sector, it knows the conditions of our refineries as well.

The wonder is, how does government hope to forestall corruption in the sector and at the same time break this cartel when our refineries are not working at full capacities? Turn around maintenance has been carried out at the Kaduna and Port Harcourt refineries and yet, they are not refining. The Obasanjo government granted nine licenses to different private sector organizations to build refineries in 2004, till this very day, no single additional refinery is on ground. The Yar'adua government also recently granted sixteen licenses to some private sector operators to import refined petro-products as a prelude to deregulation.

Bello is of No 2 Sarki Bello Road, Nassarawa Minna