…Says facilities must deliver value
By David Akinadewo-Adekahunsi
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has assured workers in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector that the nation’s refineries will be revived after a comprehensive reset and restructuring, stressing that the facilities must ultimately operate profitably and deliver value to Nigerians.
Tinubu gave the assurance on Thursday in Abuja when he received the National Executive Council of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), led by its National President, Comrade Salimon Akanni Oladiti, at the State House.
Responding to NUPENG’s appeal for the revival of the country’s refineries, the President said the Federal Government would adopt a systematic and evidence-based approach to addressing the structural, operational, financial and managerial challenges affecting the facilities.
He said detailed research and technical assessments would be undertaken to determine the problems confronting the refineries and develop sustainable solutions.
“The refineries that you mentioned are going to come back to work; we’re just building a very firm, resetting, and structural reworking of the economy of it. Ordinary flame and smoke of a refinery doesn’t mean that it’s working until it’s profitable and yields the value for which it is built,” Tinubu said.
The President said he had accepted responsibility for addressing the challenges surrounding the assets inherited from previous administrations, regardless of what had happened in the past.
“No matter what has happened in the years past, it’s now my responsibility as president to fix it and make it work for the greatest common good of our population. I take responsibility for that, and we will do it,” he said.
Tinubu also appealed to Nigerians to support the democratic process, describing democracy as a freedom and opportunity that should be cherished.
He assured Nigerians that his administration remained committed to building a better country.
On the implementation of local government autonomy, the President said the constitutional issues surrounding the policy were being reviewed for possible fine-tuning.
He appealed to stakeholders to exercise patience and understanding as the review continued.
Tinubu also paid tribute to the late Frank Kokori, a former NUPENG president, acknowledging his contribution to the struggle for democracy in Nigeria.
“You brought good memories of my relationship with Frank Kokori; may his soul rest in peace. We struggled for this democratic dispensation together, and it was very tough for us to have this democracy, and you have been a very good partner of the government in progress,” he said.
The President further promised greater inclusion of NUPENG in the implementation of the Presidential Initiative on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), while challenging the union to ensure that the benefits of the programme reached ordinary commuters.
In his remarks, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, commended NUPENG for acknowledging what he described as the positive outcomes of the administration’s reform agenda.
Idris said the recognition by the union had contributed to reducing friction between organised labour and the Federal Government.
“Your Excellency, it is not common that you find trade unions come back to the President and say, ‘Thank you for what you have done.’ I think this is an uncommon situation,” the minister said.
He recalled the administration’s engagement with labour unions over wage increases and the review of the national minimum wage, noting that such engagements had demonstrated the government’s willingness to respond to workers’ concerns.
Idris also described NUPENG’s acknowledgement of the government’s reforms, including the removal of fuel subsidy and ongoing infrastructure projects, as significant.
“For their leader to come and recognise the reforms that you are doing, especially the major reforms you undertook in this country—the removal of fuel subsidy and also acknowledging that everywhere you go is a construction site in this country—is a good development,” he said.
Earlier, NUPENG President, Comrade Salimon Akanni Oladiti, commended Tinubu for removing the fuel subsidy, describing the decision as a courageous step that had saved the country from prolonged financial drain and depletion of national reserves.
Oladiti said the policy had begun to free resources for critical infrastructure and other sectors of the economy.
He particularly praised the administration’s renewed focus on the rehabilitation and construction of major federal highways, citing the 750-kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and the 1,068-kilometre Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway as major infrastructure projects.
“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 less stress for the men behind the wheels,” he said.
Oladiti said tanker drivers and other road users were already benefiting from the rehabilitation and construction of federal highways.
He, however, urged the President to sustain efforts to revive the nation’s refineries, arguing that functional refineries would strengthen Nigeria’s energy security, reduce dependence on imported petroleum products and create more employment opportunities for Nigerian workers.
At the end of the meeting, the NUPENG leadership decorated President Tinubu as the Grand Patron of the union.
