Fix Refineries Before Subsidy Removal, PENGASSAN, NUPENG Insist

The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has said any deregulation in the petroleum sector that is still dependent on importation of oil would affect the economy negatively.
The union’s General Secretary, Comrade Afolabi Olawale, said this in an interview, yesterday.
He said the position of the union had always been that the government should fix the refineries and they should be up and running before deregulation.
He said, “The position of the union has always been that deregulation should be on local production. By this we are saying that the refineries should be working before government can deregulate.
“Any deregulation that is based on importation of oil, as we have at the moment, will have negative impact on the economy. Global oil crash will always affect our economy under this circumstance.”
On its own part, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) described the removal of the subsidy on petroleum products as a right step in a right direction, but added that it was not sustainable.
The National Public Relations Officer of the union, Comrade Fortune Obi, also agreed with Olawale that the removal of the subsidy could only be sustainable if the country’s refineries were working, arguing that it was difficult to control the price of what one did not produce.
He said, “The removal of the subsidy on the petroleum products is a right step in a right direction; however, there is a lacuna.
“The lacuna is that the nation’s refineries are not working.”
He added that for the removal of subsidy to be sustainable, the government must fix the refineries.
Meanwhile, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Ita Enang, has said that the Federal Government was planning to legalise modular refineries in the country.
Enang made this known when he featured on a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum, yesterday in Abuja.
He said that his office had, over a period of time, engaged some artisanal (illegal) oil refiners in the Niger Delta region and had seen the need to legalise their operations.
According to him, some of the artisanal refiners can produce chains of petroleum products and supply them for consumption in the country.
The Presidential aide said that engaging the artisanal refiners would go a long way to save cost for the country and boost revenue generation.
“They might not produce much to feed Nigeria and neighbouring countries, but there are refineries in neighbouring countries we take our crude oil to, for refining.
“We pay export and import, and there are still subsidy elements in it. By the time you engage these persons, they will just be producing for you.
“You do not pay for import or export; you do not pay any of the port authorities’ charges unless you transport the products by sea.
“By so doing, you will be improving their capacity and you will bring down the cost of refined petroleum products drastically. So, there will be no element of subsidy,’’ he added.
He noted that with development in the global oil market, there would be uncertainty after the COVID-19 situation in terms of the demand of oil which would help to shore up oil prices.
Enang said that Nigeria, according to the NNPC, has vessels with products yet to be sold which were incurring costs.
“We are not sure that by the time the world recovers from COVID-19, that all the countries of the world will immediately need enough oil to bring up the price, even if it is artificially raised for the purpose of sustaining the economies of the big countries.