TRADE Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to immediately revoke the licenses for private refineries of firms that have not utilized their licenses by not  building the expected refineries.

The  umbrella body for senior staff associations in the country, also  faulted the outdated coaches by contractors to rehabilitate the nation’s railway system.

TUC though commended the spirit behind government’s decision to rehabilitate the Nigerian Railway system, lamented that the rehabilitation is shrouded with so much misery.

It would  be recalled that in 2002, the then President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, granted 18 private refinery licenses after opening up the country’s downstream sector to private investment.

In October that same year, he (Obasanjo) laid the foundation stone of the $1.5 billion Tonwei Refinery  in a ceremony to mark what ought to be  the start of construction of Nigeria’s first private refinery. The Tonwei Refinery was expected to have an initial capacity of100,000 barrel of refined product per day and be expanded to 200,000.

The government of Lagos State in similar fashion, announced that it was studying the possibility of establishing a refinery, which would serve not only Lagos but other  southwestern states.  Also, the Akwa Ibom state government announced that it had concluded plans to build a 12,000 per day refinery.

It explained that a U.S.-based Ventech announced that design and construction of the refinery, to be built in prefabricated modules in the United States and then shipped to Nigeria for assembly, had begun. The facility will be located in Eket, adjacent to the Qua Iboe crude terminal.

Following suit, Edo State government disclosed that it obtained approval from the federal government to build an oil refinery. The refinery is  expected capacity would be 50,000 barrel per day.

Similarly,  a consortium of Nigeria’s independent, local petroleum marketers stated that the government had approved their plan for the construction of a refinery in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory.  But today, little or nothing is heard from Tonwei and others.

In a New Year message to Nigerian workers, President-General of TUC, Comrade Peter Esele, said the licenses should be re-issued to those with the financial capacity and technical abilities, adding,   “this will go a long way to sustain the gains already recorded in the sector under the present dispensation.”

He said: “TUC expects the government to immediately revoke the licenses issued to unserious companies and individuals for the construction of private refineries in the county and re-issue them to those with the financial capacity and technical abilities. This will go a long way to sustain the gains already recorded in the sector under the present dispensation. Also all ongoing power plants should be holistically pursued so as to restore the country as a leading industrial base on the west coast.”

On the railway rehabilitation, he said,  “While commending the spirit behind government decision to rehabilitate the Nigerian Railway system, we are however at sea as to why the exercise is shrouded with so much misery and the contractor’s desires to use outdated coaches, when the rail sector in other parts of the world are at their best. Modernizing our rail will take away pressures on our roads and provide jobs for our youths.

At this century what Nigerians desires is a rail in the mould of the Euro- star, and the Japanese rail system. Our rail should copy current development the world over.”

On manufacturing, Comrade Esele said: “Nigerians can celebrate the reopening of three textile mills in Kaduna that had previously been closed including the United Nigeria Textile Mills Ltd, which has reopened courtesy of funds from  the 200 billion Naira Textile Industry Bailout Funds.

This has led to the re engagement of 2000 workers that had been laid off when the company went out of business. TUC commends the government for this and urge that the same gesture be extended to other important sectors of the economy.”

Commenting on agriculture, the President-General added: “We expect this sector to play a major role in our fight against unemployment and therefore call on the various governments to maximize the nation’s abundance  in land by engaging it fully for the benefits of all. States should be encouraged to engage actively in the production of items they have comparative advantages.”

On the protracted N18, 000 Minimum wage, TUC appealed to National Assembly to expedite action on the law backing the new national wage, saying “ We appeal to National Assembly to ensure that the new minimum wage is passed into law within the first quarter of 2011 to avoid industrial crises  that have   consequences that may portend danger for the economy and 2011 general elections.”

He commended the Federal Government on the allocation for Education in the 2011 Budget proposal, saying “We commend federal government provision of 933 billion Naira in the proposed budget in the 2011 for the education sector, a sector which had less than a third of that amount (N249.08 billion Naira) allocated to it last year.

In addition, we celebrate with states with one new Federal University recently announced by the government. We however warn that these universities must be well funded, while the same care should be extended to the older ones.”