The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) yesterday extolled President Muhammadu Buhari’s measures on petroleum refineries, saying that they are in line with the stipulations of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Reacting to The Nation’s request from the association to comment on the measures that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was adopting to address fuel supply in the country, the association said it was impressed with government’s decision to revive the refineries.
PENGASSAN said: “This is one of the conditions we gave before the downstream of the oil and gas industry can be deregulated, and we really appreciate President Buhari’s resolve to ensure that the refineries are back on stream.
Retaining the refineries under government ownership is in tandem with OPEC’s mandate that every member country should be at the commanding height of its economy.”
According to the Public Relations Officer, Comrade Emmanuel Ojugbana, who responded to The Nation’s questions, former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government issued licences to private investors for green field refineries, but they refused to construct the plants for fear of government’s commitment.
He noted that there is now a cause to believe that the President’s commitment will guarantee private investment in new refineries.
Describing the President as an experienced regulator of the oil and gas sector, the association recalled that the President built the Port Harcourt refinery while he was the Federal Commissioner of Petroleum and Natural Resources and the first Chairman of the Board of the NNPC.
“So, he knows the onus and we believe his decisions are right,” said the oil workers.
PENGASSAN added: “This is a welcome development to us as a union. In fact, we had been clamouring for the establishment of more refineries before now.
“During the former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, licences were given to some investors, but unfortunately, they did not go ahead.
“Now with the commitment of President Buhari, there is tendency that the government will guarantee enabling environment to make the investment a reality.”
The association said that it is not opposed to deregulation of but it has always insisted that there should be a reasonable level of domestic refining capacity.
It said: “We are not averse to deregulation, but our argument is that it must be import-driven. There should be some level of local refining of petroleum products in the country.
“This is why we have been clamouring for encouraging investments in the establishment of refineries, especially modular refineries. This will not only increase local refining of petroleum products and stem down scarcity but also enhance job creation in the sector.
“We also argued that it is not safe for Nigeria to sell its national assets. That is why we are against the outright sale of the refineries.
“We therefore propose a model just like the Nigeria LNG model whereby the government will own 51% and the private investors will own 49 per cent.
“With this model, the managements of the refineries will have some levels of administrative and financial autonomy to ensure adequate running of the refineries.”
Source:THE NATION
Source:THE NATION
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