BY:
Since the Federal Government’s anouncement of its intention to deregulate the downstream oil sector, labour unions in the country have kicked against it. Series of meetings and news briefing have been held to make their position known. The Federal Government’s position is that it can no longer subsidies premium motor spirit otherwise known as petrol as more than one trillion naira is being spent annually as subsidies for petroleum products. Furthermore government maintained that the current deregulation of the sector had slowed down development of the oil industry while arguing that deregulation will reduce the level of corruption in oil transactions and encourage more investment in the sector. Government’s position is also informed by the need to enhance efficiency in the sector thereby promoting price efficiency beneficial to consumers. The plan is to deregulate the sector in such a way that prices will crash as is being witnessed in the telecommunications industry. However, labour’s argument is that deregulation will bring further hardships to the populace particularly when government has not made any effort at cushioning the effect of the proposed deregulation. Rather than deregulate, labour calls for cancellation of demurrage on petroleum products in transits, dredging of the ports which will reduce the amount paid in subsidies to marketer, rehabilitation and expansion of Nigerian’s refineries. It adds that more refineries should be built as the case in the Meddle East where more than one hundred new refineries are being built and expected to be functional by twenty-ten. More importantly, labour wants government to reposition the economy and move away from dependence on oil and gas revenues. To drive home its points as well as express its displeasure against deregulation, the organized labour in conjunction with the civil society coalition staged rallies in seven cities and rounded it up in Abuja
In a swift reaction to the rally, the Minister of Information and Communications, Professor Dora Akunyili called for restraint over the protest stressing that survival of democracy should be collective responsibility of all citizens. She expressed government’s willingness to negotiate and dialogue with the organized labour on ways of addressing the issue of deregulation and chant a way forward for Nigeria . Worthy of commendation was the peaceful manner the rally was conducted bearing in mind that similar rallies in the past had been hijacked by hoodlums and street urchins who unleash terror on innocent citizens under the guise of demonstration. Although the rallies have come and gone time will tell weather it actually made the desired impact .Even then fears are being expressed by many stakeholders that deregulation would lead to increase in the prices of petroleum products. The fear is compounded by the fact that past increases in prices of petroleum products led to high rate of inflation and caused hardship to commuters most of whom had to pay higher fares to transport themselves. Another fear being expressed is that the sector will continue to be ineffective if deliberate steps are not taken to check the present high level of corruption in the oil and gas industry. AS these debates continue, government has come out again to say through the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA that it is still consulting on the proposed deregulation. It has therefore become necessary for the organized labour to take the opportunity to dialogue with the government on the situation. And just within the week the governor’s forum endorsed the proposed reforms in the oil sector. Earlier, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria with relevant stakeholders in a workshop in Lagos
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