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By Our reporters
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
*NUPENG, PENGASSAN warn as operation at Warri Refinery collapses
ABUJA� THE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday wrote to President
Olusegun Obasanjo on the latest increase in fuel prices and appealed to him �in the strongest terms possible to
consider the plight,� of the poor and �roll back these new price increases without further delay.�
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Downstream Petroleum, Mr. Emmanuel
Agboti, speaking on the fuel price increase said Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had absolved itself
of any blame on the matter, and said market forces were responsible.
The two workers� unions in the oil and gas industry, however, warned of
turbulent days ahead on account of the increase while the much expected resumption of production by the Warri Refinery
and Petrochemical Company WRPC) was stalled yesterday following the inability of NNPC�s engineers to start up the
plant with the conversion of crude meant for the Kaduna Refinery and Petroleum Company to Escravos blend used by
the refinery.
In a five-page letter to President Obasanjo, NLC President, Mr. Adams
Oshiomhole, said there was no justifiable reason for the price increase, saying if anything it would compromise
the attainment of economic growth, and the fight against poverty and unemployment.
His words: �When the crude price is high as it is now, the associated
windfall earnings constitute a resource pool, a fraction of which can be employed in stabilising domestic products
prices. It is only in this way that our God-given oil will be counted a blessing by Nigerians. Under the present
policy of your government, majority of Nigerians see any increase in the international price of crude as a curse
resulting in their continuing pauperisation.
"Mr. President, we are worried that five years into your administration,
the inability to revive our domestic refineries continues to be the subject of hand wringing. In your media chat
last night (Sunday), you repeated what you have said several times before: that your government has spent huge
sums of money on the refineries. Yet, they are not working.
"The challenge of good governance, transparency and anti-corruption
is that we must go further than this. Nigerians deserve full disclosure on the actual amounts spent on the refineries
in the last five years, the names of individuals or companies who got the contracts, and the sanctions applied
to non-performing contracts. Nigerians cannot be subjected to the double loss of huge sums expended and continuing
closure of the refineries.
If the refineries are being sabotaged, it is incumbent on government to
let Nigerians know who the saboteurs are.
"Mr. President, I wish to most respectfully call on you to summon the required political will to do what is
in the interest of Nigerians and the nation. Nigerians are alarmed at the apparent collapse of consultation and
the sidelining of legal, administrative and political institutions in the making of decisions. Even the timing
of this price increase betrays a creeping contempt for political and social sensibilities that is worrisome.
"May 29 did not mark the end of a month, a quarter of a year which
may have been justified as representing a tidy beginning to an accounting imperative of balancing the books. Why,
in God�s name, would any government decide that the ceremonial day set aside for celebrating the triumph over dictatorship
and the enthronement of democracy was the best day to visit on its citizens yet another unpopular price increase?
"Finally, your excellency, congress appeals to you in the strongest
terms possible to consider the plight of the over 80 per cent of our citizens, who by the official estimate of
your government are poor and the further 10 per cent who are barely on the margin to temper the logic of the market
with a social and human face by directing NNPC to roll back these new price increases without further delay, while
committing your government to maintaining them until the end of your tenure. The nation can maintain the old prices
by using a fraction of excess crude earnings to stabilise domestic prices."
Senate intervenes
Meanwhile, ahead of tomorrow�s crucial decision of organised labour on
the latest fuel price increases, the Senate has waded in with a view to reversing the increases which it yesterday
lamented was a calamity for the citizenry. The Senate intervention through its Committee on Downstream Petroleum
came as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday absolved itself of any blame on the increases
which it blamed on market forces.
However, Senator Farouk Bello, a member of the Senate Committee on Gas
has blamed the administration for the looming labour crisis as he lamented the administration�s "dishonesty"
in proclaiming deregulation of the downstream sector when in fact, the government was the only importer of petroleum
products into the country.
Senator Emmanuel Agboti, chairman of the Senate Committee on Downstream
Petroleum, who was locked in talks with officials of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) last night, told Vanguard
yesterday that the NNPC had denied responsibility for latest increases in products prices.
Senator Agboti, who said the committee had written the NNPC, NLC and the
Petroleum Products Regulatory Pricing Agency (PPPRA) with a view to resolving the issue, said the NNPC responded
by blaming market forces for the price increases.
�They said that they don�t have anything to do with the price increases;
that the marketers did it on their own and that it may have to do with market forces,� Senator Agboti told Vanguard
on telephone last night.
Asked if the price increases were justifiable, he said: �Well, I wouldn�t
say that they are justifiable unless I see the facts. They have not presented anything to the National Assembly,
officially. We are not aware of the increases. So, if we see the facts we will take a stand.�
Senator Agboti speaking in reference to the reported increase in depot
prices by the NNPC said: �We have written also to Funsho Kupolokun (NNPC Group Managing Director) to find out what
he knows about this and to sit down and discuss it with us because if he increases his prices, it may have been
what started this calamity as it were.�
NUPENG, PENGASSAN warn
The two workers� unions in the nation�s oil and gas industry yesterday
in Lagos, warned that there were turbulent days ahead in the country following the latest hike in prices of petroleum
products and vowed to ensure a successful prosecution of any action by both Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade
Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) to protest the hike.
At a joint press conference, the National Union of Petroleum and Natural
Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), under the
umbrella of NUPENGASSAN said there was no way Nigerians could afford to pay international price of crude and called
on government to declare a state of emergency in the industry by which the NNPC could be granted special concession
of not less than five dollar against the prevailing international crude price to service local consumption.
The workers lamented that government had failed to make the refineries
function optimally by yesterday (May31 ) as promised over six months ago, which would have drastically reduced
the negative impact of high price of crude in the international market on local consumers and said a joint extra-ordinary
meeting of the National Executive Council (NEC) of both NUPENG and PENGASSAN would come up on June 24 to review
the situation concerning the refineries and take appropriate action on the issue.
Addressing the press, Chairman of NUPENGASSAN and President of PENGASSAN,
Comrade Brown Ogbeifun, said: �While there is increase in the crude price and subsequent pump price increases across
the nation, ruling the people by deceit further aggravates the level of cynicism in running the oil and gas
by government.
All the organs responsible for fuel prices intervention, have denied
giving such orders for increases. This is not good for governance. What government has done is to say that the
populace should take their destinies in their hands. We believe reforms are necessary for efficient oil and gas
performance, but we believe that the process of implementation is doing more damage than good.
We cannot be happy with persistent dislocations to our operations in the
oil and gas industry. As affiliates of TUC and NLC, the unfolding events and directives in the few days will determine
our joint action, as Nigerians should expect turbulent days ahead.�
For NUPENG president, Comrade Peter Akpatason, �whether the price is high
in the international market or not, we reject the hike and we will actively participate in any strike the two umbrella
bodies, NLC and TUC, call to protest the hike. As responsible unions we will always be on the side of the masses.
So, we will dutifully follow the directives of our umbrella bodies.
We have warned the government against embarking on import-based deregulation,
they refused. The marketers deceived them into this. We have told that import-based deregulation would lead to
incessant price increases, they chose to listen to the marketers who are very fraudulent and deceitful. The marketers
told the government that deregulation would make the products available everywhere in the country and that the
price would stabilise. Events have proved us right.�
Operation at Warri refinery stalled
The much expected resumption of operations at the Warri Refinery and Petrochemical
Company (WRPC) was yesterday stalled following the inability of the NNPC team of steam engineers on site to start
up the plant with the conversion of crude meant for the Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company to Escravos blend
used by the refinery.
Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
(NNPC), Mr. Funsho Kupolokun, expected to switch on the eight million litres of petrol refining plant, shut down
in November, 2002 for the mandatory Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) failed to show up apparently because of the development.
Vanguard gathered that efforts by the team of engineers to start up the
plant with the conversion of crude meant for Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company failed as it was discovered
that it remained heavier in texture as against the lighter and more ideal Escravos blend used in the past by the
WRPC.
It was learnt that the conversion collapsed as components of the plant, especially turbines and valves failed to
respond to the experiments.
Addressing newsmen on the failure of the WRPC to start up operation as
scheduled, the Head of Public Affairs, Mr. Francis Onwuka, said within the shortest period at which the engineers
were expected to be through with work, the refinery was expected to resume operations.
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