Protests loom over oil deregulation
From Collins Olayinka, Terhemba Daka (Abuja) and Yakubu Lawal (Lagos)
THE volatile issue of oil deregulation may again plunge the country into fresh crisis soon. Moves have begun by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and its allies in the civil society to mobilise its affiliates for a nationwide protest should the Federal Government go ahead with its deregulation policy.
This follows a statement by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dr. Rilwan Lukman, last month, corroborated by the Group Executive Director, Commercial and Investment of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Aminu Baba Kusa, at the weekend that the Federal Government is convinced that deregulation will make products both available and cheaper.
Faulting the position and the optimism expressed by government functionaries over the benefits of the policy, the NLC in a statement assured Nigerians that its position on the matter has not changed and warned the Federal Government that it should expect the fiercest Labour unrest ever witnessed in the history of Nigeria.
The statement, signed by its General Secretary, John Odah, said the Congress would not allow government to send more Nigerians into economic recession.
The statement read in part: "The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) wishes to re-assure workers and Nigerian people that it remains, as ever before, strongly opposed to the total deregulation of the downstream sector of the oil industry. The Congress needs to give this assurance following the Federal Government's unilateral decision to embark on full-fledged deregulation beginning from November 1, 2009 in spite of Congress' warnings of the imminent dangers deregulation poses to our economy and our people.
"The Nigeria Labour Congress, therefore, calls on its affiliates and the masses to remain resolute in their opposition to deregulation or any policy which is against the interest of the masses and prepare themselves for a fierce battle if and when the Federal Government makes real its plans to inflict more woes on already distressed Nigerians come November 1, 2009."
The Congress reiterated its belief that the deregulation policy will inflict untold hardships on the poor and ordinary people of Nigeria who constitute more than 70 per cent of Nigeria's over 140 million people.
According to it, the argument that the Nigerian people stand to benefit immensely from the policy is a clichˇ that has continually jarred the eardrums of Nigerians since the military rule era down to the eight-year reign of former President Olusegun Obasanjo under whom oil prices were increased for a record number of eleven times.
The NLC drives home its point thus: "This is against the flawed position of government which argues that it needs to deregulate because it can no longer sustain the huge subsidy that it pays out for fuel, or that it will through deregulation reduce the level of distortions or corruption involved in oil transactions and that it will offer more benefits to Nigerians because the oil market will become more efficient and the resulting benefits will be passed on to Nigerians in the form of lower product prices, better quality of service and ease as well as constant availability of the product."
It further submitted that previous attempts at deregulation which peaked at the full deregulation of kerosene and diesel products clearly demonstrate that whatever the arguments advanced by the Nigerian government, deregulation cannot and does not reduce the hardships faced by the Nigerian consumers; it only increases it.
It added that: "We, therefore, need no prophet to tell us what will happen when the most important of the petroleum products - premium motor spirit (PMS) or petrol - is fully deregulated as the government has now decided to do from November 1, 2009.
"Congress therefore wishes to assert that it remains opposed now more than ever before to deregulation of the oil and gas sector in general and of petroleum products in particular. "Government's decision, if implemented, will bring stupendous wealth for the very few who, over the years, have ruined Nigeria and bring more hardship to the vast majority of the Nigerian people among whom workers and their families form a large number."
It cautioned that its position is devoid of any ideological leanings, arguing that its rejection of the policy is based purely on humanitarian concern, which is anchored on the desire for a decent life for the people.
It maintained that the nationwide rallies to demand for upward review of national minimum wage, implementation of Justice Muhammadu Uwais panel recommendations on electoral reform and jettisoning of deregulation policy that were organised in Lagos, Asaba, Enugu, Maiduguri, Makurdi, Kano will be rounded off in Abuja on the 29th of this month.
It said: "Congress has already painstakingly taken it upon itself to mobilise Nigerians against deregulation in rallies and mass protests it embarked upon across the country since May and which will culminate in Abuja on October 29, 2009."
While conceding the concerns of government worldwide to seek veritable ways to shore up their revenue base to cushion the effects of the current global recession, the Abdulwaheed Omar-led Congress insisted that Nigeria gets it wrong by sacrificing the welfare of the workers on the altars of mobilising resources to augment financial deficit of government.
"Congress understands that governments all over the world are desperate to shore up their revenue base in the face of the global economic distress, it however strongly believes that this desperation cannot be achieved in Nigeria by endangering the welfare of workers and ordinary Nigerians, which deregulation translates to or symbolises," the national umbrella body of workers declared.
In a related development, the Human Rights Writers' Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) is worried that the planned deregulation will further worsen the living condition of a majority of Nigerians. It, therefore, called on the NLC and other civil society groups to organise mass action to protest what it describes as 'the unpopular policy.
The association in a statement by its national co-ordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, yesterday described the planned hike of pump price of premium motor spirit (fuel) as 'satanic' and anti-poor; and "urged President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua not to allow himself to go down in history as one political leader that imposed the most 'excruciating' and 'poverty-friendly' economic policies meant to further impoverish the suffering populace many of whom are so unsure of the sources of their next meals so much so that hundreds of thousands of people are now dying of hunger, starvation and widespread poverty all across Nigeria."
Meanwhile, oil multinationals may have rejected government strategy in addressing the grey areas in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) currently before the National Assembly. Thus, the proposed meeting between the government and the oil companies slated to begin yesterday did not hold.
Industry source told The Guardian yesterday that the meeting could not take off as planned because of certain delayed communication to the oil companies and that the strategy that will allow the dialogue achieve the desired result are yet to be put in place.
A senior official with one of the oil multinationals told The Guardian that oil companies are of the view that enough preparation and better strategy are required to achieve maximum result from the dialogue.
Consequently, the oil companies, including Shell, has written to the government thanking it for the invitation but pleading for an extension of time since the notification was so short.
The Guardian source stated that the meeting could not hold yesterday and the oil companies have implored the government to first meet with the Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) and individual joint venture operating group.
"The issues involved are enormous and we believe that rather than meeting on individual basis, government should have a collective meeting with the oil companies," he said.
