President Bola Tinubu on Thursday assured Nigerians that the nation’s refineries will bounce back.
The President also lamented that the expected benefits from the introduction of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) are going into the pockets of truck owners.
This came as the President of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Comrade Salimon Akanni Oladiti, pleaded with President Tinubu to help stop the casualisation of workers in the oil industry.
Speaking when he received the NUPENG leadership at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the President said the union has been a very good partner in government’s progress.
“You occupy a very critical nerve of the economy of this country,” he said.
He recalled the promise he made while seeking the presidency that he would remove the fuel subsidy and the threat by oil and gas workers to down tools. “We had threat of possible strike and something, and I served notice; you may strike all you want, but fuel subsidy will be gone. And today, to the benefit of our great country.”
“I will soon publish how it is being utilized,” he said, adding that workers at local, state and federal levels are reaping the benefits of subsidy removal through prompt payment of salaries, while landmark infrastructural projects are underway across the country.
“Yes, the economy is not child’s play. It’s a system of financial re-engineering and reset that you impress, and I want to thank you for the cooperation, collaboration and understanding.
“But I’m glad you have seen the effect of being able to find funding for long-term projects: Lagos–Ibadan Road, Abuja–Kaduna, Abuja–Kano, Sokoto–Badagry and other highways and road networks. It’s all for the good of our people and our economy.
“Equally, the introduction of compressed natural gas — well, I will appeal to you: we will do more and encourage you, but ask your drivers to let the benefits trickle down to commuters too, because whatever benefit is coming from CNG is going into the pockets of truck owners. It’s not spreading as fast as I would like, but it should spread.
“The refineries you mentioned are going to come back to work. We’re just building a very firm reset and structural reworking of the economics of it. Ordinary flame and smoke from a refinery doesn’t mean that it’s working until it’s profitable and yields the value for which it was built.
“I’m not a man who will look back and blame everyone, because I’ve accepted the assets and liabilities of my predecessors. No matter what happened in the past years, it’s my responsibility now as President to fix it and make it work for the greatest common good of our population. I take responsibility for that, and I’m going to do it.”
He added: “It’s not easy to manage a democratic regime, full of twists and turns, hills and valleys. But through perseverance, endurance and good determination we can bring about relief — like the joy of a newborn baby after a difficult pregnancy. Motherhood is painful, but the joy is everlasting. I promise you, you will enjoy a better Nigeria.”
Speaking earlier, NUPENG president Comrade Oladiti appealed to the President to check the casualisation of workers in the oil industry.
The NUPENG president, who described the trend as unwholesome, expressed concern that efforts to make oil companies, particularly in the upstream sector, stop the practice have been constantly rebuffed.
He said: “Your Excellency, our relationship with the international oil companies and indigenous players in the upstream sector has been very cordial. However, we want to seize this opportunity to bring to your attention an unhealthy trend we have been trying to correct with little to no success. It is the casualisation of workers, particularly in the upstream sector.
“For a sector that is strategic and taken as the economic jugular of the nation, NUPENG and its counterpart PENGASSAN have been tolerating these unwholesome practices, knowing full well the enormous disruption that any industrial action could cause to the economy.
“We also do not want to be seen as hostile to the Minister of Labour, Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi, who has been very supportive and operates an open-door policy in his relationship with our union.
“We have engaged the management of some of the affected companies without results. Mr. President, we urge you to use your good offices to stop the casualisation of workers in our sector.”
“While commending the present administration for rehabilitation and dualisation of federal highways — which he noted will ease movement of petroleum trucks — Oladiti also appealed to President Tinubu to see to the resuscitation of the Nigerian Pipelines and Storage Company (NPSC) depots across the country.
He maintained that injecting life into the depots would complement the ongoing efforts to revive the ailing refineries.
He said: “We’ve seen real progress in the rehabilitation of federal highways, making journeys safer for our tanker drivers.
“We also want to commend your administration’s move to revive the Warri and Port Harcourt refineries through partnership with Chinese firms. Your Excellency, we humbly request that the same energy and drive to inject life back into the refineries be extended to the decaying Nigerian Pipelines and Storage Company depots across the country.
“We strongly recommend they be handed over to private investors to manage under an equity arrangement.”
