BY VICTOR AHIUMA YOUNG

NIGERIA Employers’ Consultative Association, NECA, and Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC weekend sang discordant tunes over the Federal Government planned sale of nation’s refineries with NECA urging the Government to take a decisive stance on the sale of the  refineries, NLC on its part threatened to shut down the country should government go ahead to privatise the refineries.

While the employers’ body argued that government running of the refineries had been an economic waste, contending that government could not afford to continue to spend huge amount of money on the Turn-Around Maintenance, TAM, of the refineries with little or no real value addition to the economy, NLC declared that planned sale was unacceptable, and that the public would strongly oppose the latest planned as done several times in the past, even on the floor of the National Assembly.

Director-General of NECA, Mr. Segun Oshinowo,  at an interactive meeting newsmen in Lagos, expressed worries over the way government had been foot dragging on privatization of the four public refineries, noting that government’s policy thrust on the refineries should not be based on the resistance of one economic actor.

According to him, “it makes no economic sense for the government to continue to run the refineries which can be better managed by private sector. We wonder why the Federal Government is fidgeting in taking this all-important decision for the good of the economy.”

The privatisation of the refineries, according to Oshinowo, was more compelling judging that they had failed under government’s management.

The NECA Director General believed “Government has not been quite decisive on which direction to go regarding the privatisation of the refineries. Of what benefit is it for us to have refineries that are not producing up to capacity, refineries that are gulping huge amount all in the name of turn-around maintenance that will not produce any result.

“What is wrong with privatizing the refineries? How will government eventually be able to stop the importation of petrol if it fails to privatise the refineries? How will government be able to create an environment where more Nigerians will invest in private refineries so that we can stop this ridiculous and embarrassing long standing issue of importing petrol for an oil exporting country that is the seventh in the world?”

He called on government immediately engaged all stakeholders in the industry like it did in the privatisation of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, saying the process should be done publicly and transparently for public acceptability.