Rather than embark on deregulation of the downstream sector the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUCN) has advised that the federal government should concentrate on the building of more refineries across the country.
Unfolding the TUCN’s preference fro refineries, its president general, Comrade Peter Esele, argued that the country would benefit more from refining its crude oil products locally than importing finished products.
According to him, government had wasted millions of dollars to import petroleum products over the years, these funds would He built at least 10 refineries.
“Despite the rising demand for petroleum products over the years, no new refineries were built whilst the existing four refineries were left to suffer an extensive decline in performance, and have therefore not been able to meet demand for products for some time. In the circumstance, the country has chosen, by default, the relatively expensive option of importing refined products”. “In the long run it is important to focus on local refining. Importation must be seen as a short-term while more refineries must be built. It takes an average of 36 months to build a refinery. In the years that we have spent millions of dollars to import petroleum products, we could have used the money and time to build at least ten refineries;
According to him, “with importation of petroleum products, head or tail, Nigerians lose and lose woefully”.
“If deregulation must succeed, and our tears wiped away by government, government must do first things first. The key things are to carry out an audit of the historical imports and the related subsidy, name and shame the cartel of fraudsters masquerading as importers, and create an enabling environment for deregulation, he stressed.
Discussion about this post