• Friday, March 29, 2024
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How Nigeria wasted $9.5bn on decrepit refineries – Labour

How Nigeria wasted $9.5bn on decrepit refineries – Labour

Senior of Nigeria’s leading trade unions have bemoaned how the country spent a staggering ten billion dollars fixing local refineries which have remained decrepit for decades but have left the door open for negotiations on subsidy removal.

They spoke on Tuesday at the Annual General Meeting and inauguration of the newly elected National Executive Committee of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria in Abuja.

The national President, Trade Union Congress, Quadri Olaleye who listed conditions for supporting the removal of the controversial subsidy on fuel, raised the matter of trust deficit, asking, “how can we trust the government and be certain that they will actually remove it this time around, because, in the past, they have claimed to remove the so-called ‘subsidy.”

He said, “Nigeria has a total of five refineries across the country of which four are owned and managed by the government, and one by NDPR (Niger Delta Petroleum Resources Limited).

“It might interest you to know that none of the government-owned refineries is functioning, yet in the past 10 years alone, the government has wasted about $9.5bn for turnaround maintenance of the moribund refineries.”

He insisted that Nigeria’s energy crisis was “solely due to the incompetence and corruption of the government.”

Olaleye who noted that the TUC was not against the removal of the fuel subsidy if it would yield positive results, however, said, “rather, we are inquisitive as to what the government has to offer following the removal.”

In outlining how the policy of subsidy removal may happen, the TUC leader asked, “will there be construction and utilisation of modular refineries as the government has previously promised and failed to deliver? Will there be rehabilitation of existing moribund refineries?

“What will the government do to put an end to dependence on imported fuel? It is imperative to note these questions because we need adequate answers on what the government has to offer as failed promises from the government have become the order of the day.”

The TUC insisted that if the subsidy was to be removed, the government must be more engaged in using savings from subsidy removal to deal with funding items that could be more beneficial to the economy.

“There should be the establishment of modular refineries and construction of functioning refineries in the country,” Olaleye added.

Read also: 10 years after protest, over $60bn on subsidy, no change

He suggested that “proactive committees must be set up to check, balance, and ensure successful execution of projects and to generally oversee activities.

“The moribund refineries must be active and we must put an end to the counterproductive acts of importing petroleum products when we can refine here and sell at a competitive price.”

He said Nigeria had the capacity to meet these demands and even diversify like advanced countries, “but that will not happen because the current political class does not want it.

The national President, IPMAN, Debo Ahmed who spoke at the same event, aligned his view with that of the TUC leader.

He said, “we are in support of subsidy removal but there are some conditions that we have that should be met, such as the availability of products, proximity of supply, and other related issues.

“What we would love to see is that the government makes sure that most of these moribund refineries are on the ground and functioning.

“If most of these refineries are working, it will be easy for the implementation of subsidy removal, because products will not be subjected to foreign exchange.