NUPENG Condemns Oil Sector Deregulation …Insists On Functional Refineries

The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), has said it is against the total deregulation of the oil sector if the country’s refineries are not working optimally.

NUPENG President, Mr Igwe Achese, stated this at the national training seminar organised by NUPENG on Wednesday in Calabar.

“We are against deregulation of the downstream sector when ruptured pipelines have not been replaced and with most of the depots across the country without products,” he said.

Achese called on the Federal Government to treat the deregulation issue with caution.

He said this was necessary as the government had up to 2012 to fix the refineries, repair ruptured pipelines and reactivate the depots.

He said the union was concerned about the plight of Nigerians and the welfare of the oil workers which businesses might be affected by the deregulation.

The NUPENG boss, therefore, called on the government to repair ruptured pipelines, reactivate the depots across the country, as well as set up NNPC mega fuel stations in all the 36 states of the federation.

He said such measures would discourage the perennial oil crisis in the country.

Achese said NUPENG had proposed to set up new zonal offices in Lagos and Kaduna States to adequately monitor oil facilities and evolve an enduring solution to vandalism.

He called on the Minister of Petroleum Resources to resuscitate the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and urged that other stakeholders be consulted before the bill was passed into law.

The NUPENG president, however, pledged the union’s support for the transformation of the oil sector, if meaningful and cogent steps would be taken to turn the sector around.

Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State, represented by his Special Adviser on Special Duties, Prof. Zana Akpagu, called on the National Working Committee of NUPENG to redress the incessant shortage of diesel and kerosene in the state.

Earlier, the Director-General of the Nigerian Employers Consultative Association (NECA), Mr Segun Oshinowo, said NUPENG had been in the forefront of promoting social justice, to ensure industrial peace in the country.

Our correspondent reports that the theme of the three-day forum is “Transformational Agenda and Processes in the Oil and Gas Industry.”