10th March, 2016
Eromosele Ebhomele
Assistant General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Denja Yaqub, has said he does not believe in the unbundling of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation as announced by Ibe Kachikwu, the Minister of State for Petroleum.
Comrade Yaqub also said the NLC would support any action taken by the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, against the Federal Government’s decision to unbundle the NNPC.
Kachikwu, on Tuesday announced the unbundling of the corporation and announced chief executive officers for the new parastatals.
But in reaction, NUPENG and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, shut down operations of the NNPC nationwide on Wednesday.
Speaking on the crisis, Yaqub said though information about the actions of the two unions were still sketchy, the NLC would support NUPENG because of the belief that the latter would not just take action without proper consideration of issues.
“One of them, NUPENG, is affiliated to the NLC and there is no way we will have a position that will be different from that of NUPENG. They are in the industry, they know the problems in the industry and would have an idea of the solution to the problem.
“For us, we cannot disown our affiliate, but we can only express our support when we properly understand why they took the decision. But like you said, this just happened and we don’t have proper information yet about what led to the shut-down if there was any,” he said.
He further noted that the NLC did not have a position on the unbundling before the action was taken because it did not envisage the action.
“NLC has its position on the petroleum industry which was purely that it cannot be deregulated. We didn’t make proposal for unbundling.
“If unbundling the NNPC will bring solution to the crises that we have and the various levels of corruption in the industry, that will be fine, but personally, I do not see how unbundling NNPC will stop corruption. I cannot see how unbundling the NNPC will make the place effective.
“What the industry needs very urgently is the revival of the four refineries because those refineries, we understand, are the best in the whole world and are still functioning.
“All they need to do is turn-around maintenance on them and use them, not to privatise them. Those who are calling for the privatisation of the refineries are waiting to buy those same refineries because it can still function.
“So what we are asking for is that the industry should be revived; I do not know how unbundling will revive the industry. Unbundling is not what will repair the refineries, unbundling will not build refineries.
“What we need is to take effective actions that will bring fuel to the common man on the street. What we need is to stop importation of fuel.
“We have this product, they should resume production and make it available to the people to enjoy it. We must stop creating jobs for people outside this country while we are losing jobs here.
“I do not know how unbundling NNPC is going to solve the problem and that’s my personal opinion because NLC has not sat to discuss the matter. Unbundling cannot solve the problems. They are just slicing a piece of yam so that it will be enough for everybody to steal from,” he said.