President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has met with the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), pledging his administration’s commitment to reviving the nation’s refineries and strengthening the energy sector.
President Tinubu, during an audience with the union led by its National President, Comrade Salimon Akanni Oladiti, on Thursday at the State House, Abuja, assured that the country’s refineries would return to operation, stressing that their revival must be anchored on profitability and sustainable economic value.
The President also defended the removal of fuel subsidy as part of the economic reset necessary to reposition the country, disclosing that his administration would soon publish details on the utilisation of resources following the policy.
He said the reforms had strengthened the government’s capacity to fund long-term infrastructure projects, citing the Lagos-Ibadan, Abuja-Kaduna, Abuja-Kano and Sokoto-Badagry road corridors among investments aimed at stimulating economic activities and improving public safety.
On the refineries, President Tinubu said his administration had accepted responsibility for addressing longstanding challenges in the sector and ensuring that public assets deliver value to Nigerians.
“The refineries that you mentioned are going to come back to work. We’re just building a very firm reset and structural reworking of the economics of it. Ordinary flame and smoke from a refinery doesn’t mean that it’s working until it’s profitable and yields the value for which it was built.
“I’ve accepted the assets and liabilities of my predecessors, no matter what has happened in the years past. It’s my responsibility now as the President to fix it, make it work for the largest common value of our population. I take responsibility for that, and I’m going to do it,” the president stated.
On the introduction of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), President Tinubu said the government would continue to expand the initiative, urging transport operators to pass the benefits of reduced operating costs to commuters through lower fares.
“Whatever benefit that is coming from CNG is going into the pocket of truck owners. It’s not spreading as fast as I would like it, but it should spread,” he said, appealing for the benefits of the initiative to reach commuters.
Describing NUPENG as occupying “a very critical nerve of the economy”, the president commended the union for its cooperation with the government and appealed for sustained partnership in implementing the administration’s reforms.
President Tinubu assured the union that the difficulties associated with the reforms would ultimately give way to improved economic conditions, saying, “I promise you, you will enjoy a better Nigeria.”
Earlier, NUPENG National President, Comrade Salimon Akanni Oladiti, appealed to President Tinubu to intervene in the casualisation of workers in the oil and gas industry, particularly in the upstream sector.
“Your Excellency, our relationship with the international oil companies and the indigenous players in the upstream sector has been very cordial. However, we want to seize this opportunity to bring to your attention an unhealthy trend we have been trying to correct with little to no success. It is the casualisation of workers, particularly in the upstream sector.
“For a sector that is strategic and taken as the economic jugular of the nation, NUPENG and its counterpart, the PENGASSAN, have been tolerating these unwholesome practices, knowing full well the enormous disruption that any industrial actions could cause to the economy.
“We have engaged the management of some of the affected companies without results. Mr President, we urge you to use your good offices to stop casualisation of workers in our sector.”
Oladiti also appealed to the President to facilitate the resuscitation of Nigerian Pipelines and Storage Company (NPSC) depots across the country, while commending the administration’s rehabilitation and dualisation of federal highways, which he said would ease the movement of petroleum products.
“We also want to commend your administration’s move to revive the Warri and Port Harcourt refineries through partnership with Chinese firms,” he said.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, who attended the meeting, welcomed the growing partnership between the Federal Government and labour unions, saying dialogue was increasingly replacing confrontation in government-labour relations.
“We know that in the future more and more of unions like this, the period of the altercation we used to have between unions and government is gradually being closed and we thank them for this recognition of the efforts of Mr President,” the Minister added.
The highlight of the visit was the conferment of the Grand Patron Award on President Tinubu by NUPENG National President, Comrade Salimon Akanni Oladiti.
