The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of
Nigeria (PENGASSAN), has urged the Federal Government to privatise the nation’s
four ailing refineries using the 49/51 per cent government/private investor
model adopted for the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas.
The President, PENGASSAN, Ndukaku Ohaeri, gave the
advice in Lagos last Friday while fielding questions on the developments in the
oil and gas industry and other national issues.
The NLNG, backed by the NLNG Act, is owned by four
shareholders, namely, the Federal Government of Nigeria, represented by the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (49 per cent); Shell (25.6 per cent);
Total Gaz Electricite Holdings, France (15 per cent), and Eni (10.4 per cent).
Ohaeri maintained that the model was a huge
success and if the Federal Government had intention of reviving the refineries,
it needed to replicate that model in the industry.
He said: “The shareholders at the NLNG are private
entities who are in business, Therefore, there is a high level of
responsibility among the staff members.
“You will not see any of them neglecting their
duties because they are acquainted with one big man somewhere.”
He also made reference to the Eleme Petrochemical
Company Limited that was sold to a Chinese firm, Indorama in 2006, saying that
the company, after the sale, had also become a successful private enterprise
that had kept on expanding.
The PENGASSAN president also noted that while the
government had been successful in tackling terrorism, kidnappers, cultists and
robbers still posed a threat to the peace of the society.
According to him, these vices stem from the high
unemployment rate in the country, adding that if people are gainfully employed,
there will be no need to engage in crime.
He said PENGASSAN “is an association and a
critical stakeholder that fought for the enthronement of the democracy that we
have. We stand for the progress of the nation.”
SOURCE TIDE
