Former Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, has called for cautioned the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Depot and Petroleum Product Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) to stop demonizing Dangote Refinery.
The call is coming amidst the ongoing cold war in the downstream sector of the oil industry
While the NUPENG has recently embarked on industrial action, leading to shutdown of depots, arising from what it called the failure of the management of Dangote Refinery to allow its truck drivers join the Union as vested in the Trade Union Act, DAPPMAN, the umbrella body of fuel importers, had accused the Dangote Refinery of a plot to stifle competition by selling its products at cheaper prices to international traders as compared to the amount it gives same products to marketers in Nigeria.
The Department of State Security Service had since resolved the dispute between Dangote Refinery management and the umbrella body of junior workers in the oil industry.
The former Senate Leader in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja expressed concern over what he called “a poisonous media narrative to paint Dangote in bad light in the eyes of Nigerians and the international community.”
Senator Ndume who recalled the genuine, deliberate efforts by previous administrations to encourage oil industry operators to build and operate refineries, declared that those who were granted licenses only exploited such opportunities
and the attendants benefits and
privileges without making conscious efforts to to build refineries.
“Before Dangote took the risk to build his refinery, previous administrations had granted licenses to many Nigerians. What did they do with it.? Some of them only cashed on the incentives of crude oil allocation.
“If my memory serves me right, licenses were granted to 12 private operators as far back as 2002 to build refineries and reduce dependence on imported fuel.
“The second round of licenses was done in 2007 by the then Department of Petroleum Resouces (DPR) after revoking the first batch and granted nine new licenses to private investors.
“Those parading themselves as fuel importers today didn’t seize the initiative to come together to build refineries.
“Again, during the Muhammadu Buhari administration, licenses were granted to private investors to build modular refineries.
“How many of them actually scratched the surface but they are ganging up to falsely accuse Dangote of monopolizing the market.”
The Senator representing Borno South who decried the animosity against the Dangote Refinery maintained that the Federal Government in line with the Petroleum Industry Act has done everything possible to promote deregulation of the oil industry and encourage healthy competition.
“It is wrong to talk about monopoly in a deregulated industry. There is no deliberate bottlenecks against anyone and no player has been accorded special concession to the detriment of others.”
He specifically called on the regulatory agency in the industry, the Ministry of Petroleum Resouces and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, (NMDPRA) to take more than passing interest in the feud among the players, to avoid antics that could disrupt effective petroleum products distribution.
“I urge NUPENG, PENGASSAN, and all concerned stakeholders to engage in constructive dialogue with Dangote rather than inciting division and undue sensationalism in the media. Our common goal should be to balance labour rights with the imperatives of national development and not put ordinary citizens at the receiving end of a needless power tussle.”