TUC President, Peter EseleTHE Trade Union Congress has called on the Federal Government to upgrade existing refineries in the country before considering the removal of fuel subsidy.
The TUC argued that it was necessary for Nigeria to increase its local refining capacity to enable it to meet domestic demand for refined petroleum products within the next five years.
Rivers State Chairman of the TUC, Mr. Chika Onuegbu, who made this call on Wednesday while speaking with THE PUNCH in Port Harcourt, said the country could begin to export refined petroleum products to neighbouring African countries within the next seven years if all its refineries were made to function optimally.
Onuegbu also urged the Federal Government to demonstrate to Nigerians how the proposed removal of fuel subsidy would reduce poverty and unemployment in the country.
He said, "We therefore, join NUPENG and PENGASSAN to demand that government must ensure that these refineries function properly before any consideration can be given to their proposal for the removal of fuel subsidy.
"We urge the Federal Government to consider the concerns of various stakeholders as well as come up with how to grow the local refining capacity such that within the next five years, we will meet locally all our domestic demand for refined petroleum products in Nigeria, and such that within the next seven years, we will be exporting refined petroleum products to neighbouring African countries.
"The government should also demonstrate very clearly how the proposed policy of fuel subsidy removal will reduce poverty and unemployment in Nigeria before we can begin to consider whether or not to support it."
He expressed the fear that sharing the funds accruing from the removal of oil subsidy among the three tiers of government could trigger another round of corruption and inefficiency.
Onuegbu said, "As for the much talked about cabal in the oil industry, we think that they are not bigger than the government and the country. If the government is determined, they can be brought to book and their activities adequately checked.
"We are also hopeful that the Senator Magnus Abe joint committee on fuel subsidy investigation in the operation and management of the oil subsidy in Nigeria will expose the huge corruption and inefficiency that exist in the management of the oil subsidy in Nigeria."
He, however, expressed concern that despite government’s huge investment in the power sector, there had been no appreciable progress, adding that the federal government should have solve the problem of power failure in the country before proposing the removal of oil subsidy.
According to him, "Our reason is that it will assure us that government can be trusted and that they are serious about the welfare of ordinary Nigerians. As we speak, in the absence of 24 hours power supply, a huge quantity of demand for refined petroleum products is for power.
"If we have 24-hour power supply, our demand for petroleum products will reduce and there will be marked improvement in the manufacturing and small scale businesses in Nigeria."
No comments:
Post a Comment