UMBRELLA body for senior staff associations in the country, the Trade Union of Congress of Nigeria (TUC), has among other things, charged the federal government to embark on a nationwide enlightenment campaign to educate and convince Nigerians where they should support its planned full deregulation of the the downstream sector of the Petroleum industry.

President-General and Secretary-General of TUC, Comrade Peter Esele and Chief John Kolawole, in a statement, lauded the recent outburst by members of the House of Representatives, faulting the way officials of the executive arm of the government are going about the issue of deregulation.

The statement read in part: “The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) welcome the recent outburst from members of the House of Representatives over the handling of the much talked about deregulation of the downstream sector of the nation’s petroleum industry by the minister of petroleum Resources, Rilwanu Lukman, and the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC).

We commend the House for its forthrightness in telling both Lukman and the NNPC that they are causing unnecessary panic in the country. Today we are faced by unjustifiable increase on the official pump price of petroleum products throughout the country and would therefore ask the minister whose interest he represents.

TUC had always maintained that the issue of deregulation must be predicated on certain factors to avoid the pitfall of the past which pauperized the masses. That our refineries are not working after billions of naira were wasted on Turn-Around-Maintenance (TAM), some carried out under Dr Lukman as minister and supervised by NNPC. It is on record that a whooping sum of $7.5m was spent on Kaduna TAM which today has failed to work.

It is baffling and laughable therefore to listen to the minister and his co-travelers in the NNPC blaming the problems of the sector on corruption and sharp practices when in actual fact nobody, organization or agency have been queried or prosecuted for engaging in this act of economic sabotage. Rather it is the hapless owners of this God given resources that prosecuted and executed at random.”

“Why haven’t the minister and the numerous agencies under him faction out ways to deal with these so-called criminals or sponsor legislations to stop their activities. Why is it hard to revoke licenses of Filling stations that deliberately hoard or sell products above the recommended prices? We have also demanded that before full deregulation, federal government must first of all put in place necessary measures to cushion its effects. Our rail and other transportation systems must be functional.

When there is an effective transportation Nigerians will definitely abandon Filling stations and their cars for it and there will be less traffic on our roads. Nigeria does not need to be a big consumer of petroleum products; rather we should be a major exporter of the product to nations that are disadvantaged. And the proceeds used in the development of the country.

Today we are rated as a failed state despite our huge human and material resource. We wonder what will happen when our oil and gas finally dries up in the coming years. The Congress therefore demands that the exercise be suspended until all grey areas identified by labour, National Assembly, and other interest groups that are opposed to it are sorted out. Also, the NNPC and other agencies interested on this matter must embark on a public enlightenment campaign of not less than 90 days to educated Nigerians on why the exercise is necessary. Until our positions are met, we will continue to oppose this attempt aimed at further impoverishing our citizens whom we have vowed to protect.”