Comrade Godtime Omowele [Chairman NUPENG MRS Branch]
Comrade Godtime Omowele [Chairman NUPENG MRS Branch]
To deregulate is never the solution to the lingering crises in the sector neither will the Petroleum Industry Bill remedy the problem too. The problem is that the government is not committed to put in their best on the implementation of the PIB and the deregulation. The government is yet to tell the public if there is subsidy and if there is subsidy, who are the people that are benefitting from it and how much is the subsidy? The solution is that government should be committed in all that they do. Government should be committed with whatever policies and laws that are on ground for the oil and gas sector. Without the commitment and the political will, I do not think there is a way out of the present situation that surrounds the sector. If eventually the PIB is passed and it is not implemented the way it should, we still bounce back to square zero that we were before and if the deregulation is not well implemented, we will remain static.
FunmiEkundayo [Fuel Attendant]
As far as I am concerned, deregulation is what we have on ground and it has not solved the problem on ground. However if the Petroleum Industry bill is passage in to law to regulate the oil and gas sector, I bet you will still have the same story on what is on ground. The passage of the bill into law will not change the present state of the sector rather it will create room for stealing and cheating. The oil and gas sector has been pocketed by some minority few and I don’t think there is a way out of it. We should continue with the ongoing deregulation because we are used to it, rather than bringing something that is entirely new to us.
Chris Sadoh [Stars Maritime Academy]
In Nigeria there is one thing that I observed which is that, we always leave what is important to us and go after shadows and that is why we are not getting results in everything we do in Nigeria .Now deregulation will not help the current problem we are facing in the country. Times, without number and in so many cases, we have been talking about deregulation which to me is not the problem at hand and if we can be sincere to ourselves we only need to go back to the drawing board to ascertain those areas that are not in shape and how to put it right in fact if the government can be transparent in all they do then we are half way there. The petroleum Industry Bill or deregulation are mere jargons in the oil and gas sector that will make no impact on the sustainability to mankind and national development of the nation .My suggestion is that government should put the right people in the right position rather than ing us that the PIB bill will provide a platform that will solve the problem on ground. For years we have been deregulating without result so what will be the way forward and for the PIB it will not make any difference to the sector as wells.
Mr. Albert Imhudemhe [Fuel Attendant]
From what is on ground, I will say that deregulation has not been able to solve the present problem and we should not clamour for the PIB because if we do then we have a very long way to go, thus there is high a level of politics in the petroleum Industry Bill and from the way it looks it is only God that can intervene in the current crisis in the oil and gas sector. From what I gather the PIB will restructure and revamp the oil sector which to me is just a mere word on paper. So I urge the government to pay attention to what is on ground because as it right now more emphasis should be paid to deregulation to be effective and the only way out is for the government to implement what we have on ground in order to get result.
Olanife Adeoye (Petroleum marketer)
Deregulation is the answer, all over the world; government has never handled anything and succeeds, look at NITEL and water cooperation as an example, NEPA is in the same situation, so it has to be deregulation. The PIB on the other hand also has to come into place so that the government can put infrastructural facilities into place to assist those who are ready to invest their money, there has to be a guiding law where government will know their boundary, where investors will also know their boundary and the opportunities they have in order to be able to borrow from the banks and how to invest. People cannot just be going and coming, investing and doing what they like, there has to be a guiding principle, about the facilities close to the refineries, about the oil well, the sharing ratio between the federal government, the state where the oil is being drilled, and the investors who put their money.
Chief Nelson Obiora (Petroleum Marketer)
I will advise that the government should embark on a programme that will raise the capacity of our refineries to international standards. Foreign contractors should be contracted in order to carry out Turn Around Maintenance (TAM). Apart from this, the Greenfield refineries proposed by the government should also be implemented; this to a long extent will reduce or put an end to importation. Also, government should, as a matter of urgency, ensure that a robust Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) that will solve the problems of both the downstream and the upstream sectors of the petroleum industry is passed into law.
Sunday Okooza (Chairman, ASCON unit, PTD)
First of all, government should ensure that our refineries are restored into perfect working condition, that will be able to reduce the importation by the NNPC, the little money made from the NNPC sales can therefore also be used to carry out regular Turn Arround Maintenance of the refineries, when the refineries are working perfectly, no matter the price they fix the fuel at, we will buy it because other benefits are attached, we will not have to be using fuel for generator sets anymore because there will be electricity, and many people that have become ‘okada’ riders today will then go back to their original trades. Deregulation still remains the answer, because without it, importers will continue to steal government money in the name of subsidy.
Comrade Peter Ojelatan (Water Transporter)
Deregulation still remains the answer to the problem, even though everybody is opposed the subsidy removal at the beginning of the year, it is not as if it is a bad idea, but how many Nigerians understand what deregulation really means? It is not that people are against it, it’s just that some things had to be put in place before the government should come out and say it wants to deregulate, they also have to let the people understand the benefits of deregulation before embarking on it. The fact that there is scarcity in the country today does not mean that there is no petrol anywhere in the world; they just don’t want to import. when passed into law, the PIB stands to bring sanity into the oil business, but some people do not want to allow the law to be passed, what I think that government should do through the new’ Ribadu committee’ is that they should tackle the corruption in the oil sector, corruption is the bane of the sector. Nigeria has a robust polic,y but its implementation is always a problem as a result of corruption.
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