President Bola Tinubu met with the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, urging beneficiaries of government compressed natural gas (CNG) conversion projects to lower commuter fares. The President noted that CNG benefits are currently restricted to the pockets of vehicle owners rather than trickling down to the public.
The appeal responds to public outcry that fares charged by CNG beneficiaries match those of petrol vehicles. President Tinubu promised expanded access to conversion projects and confirmed plans to publish reports on the utilisation of fuel subsidy savings. Reflecting on his May 29, 2023, inauguration announcement ending the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) subsidy, he revealed he proceeded despite strike threats to secure the nation’s financial health.
The President however, promised to do more in the CNG project to ensure that more people have access to the conversion.
‘Equally, the introduction of compressed natural gas. Well, I will appeal to you, we will do more. We will encourage you, but ask your drivers to let it trickle to the commuters too, because whatever benefit that is coming from CNG is going to the pocket of truck owners. It’s not spreading as fast as I would like it, but it should spread.
The President also promised to publish reports on government utilisation of subsidy savings.
The President had on the 29th of May, 2023, during his inauguration announced the removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit PMS, that drained over N20 trillion in two decades
The President speaking at the meeting with NUPENG officials, on Thursday, at the presidential Villa, Abuja, revealed why he did not serve notice before the announcement.
‘ I received threats that if I served noticed; you may go on strike, but I insisted that fuel subsidy will be gone. And today, it is to the benefit of our great country,’ he said. ‘ I will soon publish the utilization of what we received’.
Tinubu said he listened to people; ‘ they say common man and all of that. Who are the people receiving the salaries in the local government administration? Are they not common men and women receiving salaries regularly at the state level, are they not common man and woman? The ordinary people are receiving salaries at the federal government regularly, and it affects all the market women around us, including your wives’.
The President also noted the economy is not a child’s play.
‘It’s a system of financial reengineering and reset that you impress, and I want to thank you for the cooperation and collaboration, the understanding,’ he said.
BusinessDay gathered that the meeting was in furtherance to the President’s recent announced to restructure the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited NNPCL to prepare it for listing on the capital market.
It was gathered that the President met the Union whose responsibilities include amongst others, to protect workers’ welfare, negotiates employment terms, and handles industrial relations across the country’s energy industry, to prepare them for the new oil and gas sector.
The Union advocates for junior staff and petroleum tanker drivers across oil majors and service companies.
Just few days ago, the President also approved a landmark reform that replaces project-by-project negotiations with a transparent investment framework designed to unlock up to US$50 billion in deep offshore investment and restart Nigeria’s large, capital-intensive offshore developments that have remained stalled for decades.
The approval also enables NNPC Limited, as the Government’s nominated counterparty under the Production Sharing Contracts, to proceed with the necessary amendments to eligible Production Sharing Contracts required to implement the framework.
The reform establishes a transparent, rules-based investment framework capable of supporting the next generation of deep offshore developments, beginning with the approximately US$10 billion Bonga South West project, while strengthening Nigeria’s competitiveness for globally mobile investment capital.
The President who described the NUPENG as ‘very good partner of government in progress’, stated that the union ‘occupy a very critical nerve of the economy of this country’.
‘ I’m glad you have seen the effect of being able to find funding for long-term projects; Lagos-Ibadan Road, Abuja-Kaduna, Abuja-Kano, and Sokoto-Badagri and the highways and many other road network, it’s all for the good of us and the good of our economy and the safety of our people.’
The President while also speaking on th refineries, assured that ‘ the refineries are going to come back to work,’ adding that ‘ ‘ We’re just building a very firm reset and structural reworking of the economic of it.
‘Ordinary flame and smoke of refinery doesn’t mean that it’s working until it’s profitable and yield the value for which it is built.
‘I’m not a man who go look come back at everything because I’ve accepted the asset and liability of my predecessors, no matter what has happened in the years past, it’s my responsibility now as the president to fix it, make it work, I take responsibility for that, and I’m going to do it’
He appealed to the officials of NUPENG to work together with the government to strengthen democracy, adding that ‘ democracy is about celebration of freedom and opportunity that must be cherished by all of us.
‘It’s not easy to manage a democratic regime, full of twists and turns, hill and valleys, and all of that. But it’s through perseverance, endurance, and good determination that we can bring about a relief of a newborn baby and a pregnancy, you see the joy of life. It is the motherhood is painful, but the joy is everlasting and dumb and I will promise you, you will enjoy better Nigeria’.
Akanni Oladiti, the President of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, ( NUPENG, speaking earlier, appealed to President to check casualisation of workers in the oil industry in the country.
The NUPENG leader described the trend as unwholesome, expressing concern that efforts to make the oil companies involved, particularly in the upstream oil and gas sector to shelve the practice have been constantly rebuffed.
He said:’Your Excellency, our relationship with the International Oil Companies and the indigenous players in
the upstream sector has been very cordial. However, we want to seize this opportunity to bring to your attention an unhealthy trend we have been trying to correct with little to no success. It is the
casualisation of workers, particularly in the upstream sector.
‘For a sector that is strategic and taken as the economic jugular of the nation, NUPENG and its counterpart, the PENGASSAN have been tolerating these unwholesome practices, knowing full well
the enormous disruption that any industrial actions could cause to the economy.
‘We also do not want to be seen to be hostile to the Minister of Labour, Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi, who has been very supportive and operates an open-door policy in his relationship with our Union.
‘We have engaged the management of some of the affected companies without results. Mr. President, we urge you to use your good offices to stop casualisation of workers in our sector.’
While commending the present administration for its rehabilitation and dualisation of federal highways which he noted will ease movement of petroleum trucks, Oladiti also appealed to President Tinubu to see to the rescucitation of the Nigerian Pipelines and Storage Company (NPSC) depots across the country.
He maintained that injecting life into the depots would complement the ongoing positive step to revive the ailing refineries.
‘ We’ve seen real progress in the rehabilitation of federal highways, making
journeys safer for our tanker drivers,’ he said.
‘Mr. President, your administration has turned federal highways into massive construction sites. We
must not fail to mention the ongoing, unprecedented projects, 750- kilometer, six lane Lagos – Coastal
Highway and the 1,068- kilometer Sokoto- Badagry Superhighway that will traverse seven states in the
country.
‘For our members, a good road is the difference between arriving home safely and never arriving at
all. Every stretch of highway rehabilitated or constructed, means fewer accidents, fewer spillages,
fewer lives lost, and lesser stress for the men behind the wheel. Mr. President, that is a reform our
members feel in their bones, and for it we say thank you.
‘We also want to commend your administration’s move to revive the Warri and Port Harcourt refineries through partnership with Chinese firms.
‘Your Excellency, we want to humbly request that the same energy and drive to inject life back to the
refineries be extended to the decaying Nigerian Pipelines and Storage Company (NPSC) depots of
country.
‘We strongly recommend they can be handed over to private investors to manage under an equity arrangement.’
The President of NUPENG also urged President Tinubu to promote grassroots development by ensuring that state governors comply with the Supreme Court judgment on financial autonomy of the local governments’.