Lagos — Head of Gani Fawehinmi Chambers and son of the late legal luminary, Mr. Mohammed Fawehinmi, has urged the Federal Government to suspend the planned deregulation of the downstream sector of the oil industry, saying what was expected of the government was to put the existing refineries in a good working condition and cater for the well-being of Nigerians.

Fawehinmi, in a statement signed and made available to THISDAY, said the Federal Government and the National Assembly were expected to have a rethink in their quest to deregulate the downstream sector of the petroleum industry in view of the drastic effect on the masses and the economy yet to fully recover from the global economic meltdown.

According to him, "this is the first effect of the yet-to-be implemented deregulation, which according to the government, no date has been fixed. You can imagine the after effect of full deregulation of the petroleum downstream on Nigerians when the date is fixed".

He continued: "I have been proven right by the recent developments in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry with particular reference to the current artificial scarcity of petroleum products in Nigeria, a country so endowed with enough petroleum products to adequately cater for her citizens yet are living in adverse scarcity".

He however congratulated Alhaji Rilwan Lukman, Minister of Petroleum; Mr. Henry Odein Ajumogobia, Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. M. S. Barkindo Group Managing Director, NNPC, Mr. G. U. Agha, Director, Department of Petroleum Resources, Senator Paul Emmanuel, Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum, Hon Clever Ikisikpo, Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum, and Mallam Lamido Sanusi Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, for their outstanding performance in governance in recent times.

Fawehinmi added that the seven government officials he congratulated should remember that the voice of the people is the voice of God, adding: "Nigerians in one voice are saying no to deregulation and please stop the deregulation plans now."

He said their predecessors in office had inherited the demons of failure, evident in the long queues of vehicles at petrol stations across the country waiting to buy fuel with the large number of the poor masses of the country wanting to purchase kerosene, adding that the situation has become a recurring decimal in the last 25 years.

Fawehinmi, while quoting one of the national dailies signed by the Head, Corporate Affairs, CBN, Mr. M. Abdullah captioned 'CBN Supports Deregulation' that read as " the CBN therefore wishes to state categorically that it is in full support of the federal government's policy on deregulation "

He said the statement clearly shows that the CBN Governor was in full support of the imminent deregulation policy of the federal government, noting that the CBN governor himself was hoping to sell the interests in the banks to foreign partners and investors.

He added that "this is a dangerous development and must stop him by every reasonable legal means possible. The CBN boss should prioritise his interests, plans and policies on proving suitable platform for a stable financial system and visible improvement of the economy of this country instead of supporting deregulation".