Market News

The National President of the Trade Union Congress, Comrade Quadri Olaleye has urged the federal government to fix the moribund refineries in the country before putting an end to the payment of petroleum subsidies.

Olaleye made the remark yesterday at the Annual General Meeting of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.

He said corruption and inefficiency of those managing the nation’s refineries are leading to energy crises as the world is moving to the consumption of cleaner energy.

“Even with Nigeria’s status of being one of the largest oil-producing countries, Nigeria is the only OPEC member country that imports more than 90 to 95% of refined petroleum products for consumption with $9.5billion wasted for turnaround maintenance of the moribund refineries in the past 10 years alone.”

While stating that TUC is not against the removal of fuel subsidy if it will yield positive results, Olaleye tasked the federal government to make conscious efforts to put the four refineries in good shape and encourage private-sector participation in establishing modular refineries to mitigate the huge cost of importation of refined petroleum products.

Earlier, the new president of IPMAN, Alhaji Debo Ahmed pleaded with the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to ensure payment of outstanding briefing claims owed to the marketers.

“Our members have billions of Naira as transport claims with the defunct Petroleum Equalisation Fund now with Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) unattended. As a united association, we have to follow up to make sure our members are paid unconditionally.