The dangers in privatising public refineries - Comrade Olowoshile

Vanguard By Victor Ahiuma-Young Tuesday, June 10, 2003

FOR some time now government officials have been giving indications that the government...

 FOR some time now government officials have been giving indications that the government has concluded arrangements to put on sale the four Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) refineries and its subsidiaries, despite the fact that a Technical committee set up by the Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to look into the grievances of organised labour in the wake of a two- day nation wide warning strike by the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and its Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) is yet to conclude its assignment.

The workers are not taking these government officials statements lightly and have continued to warn that they would not accept any unilateral government action on the refineries or NNPC subsidiaries.

In this chat with Energy This Week, Acting General Secretary of PENGASSAN, Comrade Bayo Olowoshile gives insight on what workers in the sector consider as the dangers in the government ill-advised planned privatisation of the refineries or NNPC subsidiaries.

Excerpts.

WHAT is the association’s stand on the issue of privatising the refineries now that government appears to have concluded all arrangements to privatise them despite a technical committee set up to look into workers grievances?

Our position is that any position that government is going to take is going to be such that cuts across all the interest groups and stakeholders , essentially the interest of the nation at large. That is exactly what we are doing in the committee. We as a trade union working along with other interest groups in the committee have been making useful contribution to the committee. We have been working well with all members of the committee believing that we will be able to come out with a very enduring and satisfying position that will enable the nation move the NNPC and the down stream sector forward. We believe that whatever we achieve in the committee will serve the general interest of every body. That is what we want to hold on to. But recent publications and statements by government aides is really giving us concern and it has been very disturbing and unfortunate.

When government has been spending tax payers money and taking the time of people in the committee who are working on something that will benefit the entire nation and we have another people working on parallel line, at cross purpose to a committee which the vice president of this country set up to take care of all interests, it is a very wrong approach. It sends a very bad signal to every body. What it means is that government is not yet democratic, it is not carrying Nigerians along. We want the government to stop its officials or aides from making inflammatory statements and heating up the polity as well as making people believe that government can take unilateral decision without considering every interest group. We are not going to take it and we maintain that any thing short of the out-come of the committee’s report will be unacceptable to the workers.

Have you now been convinced that only privatisation can solve the problems of NNPC refineries and ensure steady fuel supply?

Well, we believe that the committee has gone beyond believing that privatisation is the only way out of revamping and resuscitating the refineries. The problem of the refineries was not because the refineries were not privatised. This is the practice all the world over. The best and most performing refineries in the world are the ones that are public or state owned. We can take the Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and a host of other countries in the Organisation of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC) that are doing quite well as examples. We believe that the problem in NNPC is more of government inflicted than the society inflicted. This was because of the kind of leadership we had in the past. That is what we are trying to correct now. Thank God we are now in a democracy that gives people the opportunity to sit together and look at issues to find out the best way forward. We know that NNPC had suffered government negative interference. They had suffered from lack of funding and they had also suffered undue government manipulations. All these have been the bane of the corporation. The issue of privatisation is obviously not the way forward. If you don’t look at the core values that guide a business and believe that selling is the best way, then some thing is definitely wrong. We know that even the so-called private companies, without the enabling environment, without security of the lives and property, no body can do a good business. There are other factors that we need to consider. There are the social factors that must be attended to before we can really have a way forward in Nigeria. Privatisation is not the solution. Government is saying that it does not want to go into business because government has no business being in business. Government is saying it wants a private sector driven business, especially in the commanding heights in the economy because of World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Not just because it has convinced itself that privatisation can drive this nation forward. There are other issues that government needs to attend to. The main issue is about how we can really reform the system, how we can make the system work effectively and efficiently so as to make Nigerians have some confidence in Nigeria and in the system. That is the first thing. The moment we are able to do that then, there will be a lot of attraction for new investments. Until we are able to do that, whatever that is happening, whether privatisation or any other name the government chooses to call it, will still drag this nation backward. So, we don’t believe that privatisation is the solution. What has been happening in other areas that have been privatised? Has there been any progress in those sectors? We should look at other factors that are associated with societal ills and other stagnating forces which have made the environment not to be attractive or conducive for new investments. To even invest in Nigeria, Nigerians don’t believe in Nigeria. They would rather believe in capital flight, and investing their money elsewhere . So when Nigerians themselves do not believe in the system, how do you expect outsiders to come and invest in an environment where you as a Nigerian do not even believe in. We need to look at this basic problems first and see how best to solve them. We also need to look at the social problems. Nigerians do not have jobs. Thousands of people are graduating from schools no work to do. There is the problem in the Niger Delta where the people are angry over continued government neglect despite being the source of the major stay of the nation’s economy. No social and infrastructural facilities in their region and they see the system as hopeless. Government needs to give this people hope and selling NNPC refineries definitely is not that. The government has to look at how best to make Nigerians have confidence in the system so that we can have an enduring and hopeful society where everybody will be proud of.

Some have argued for commercialisation and autonomy of NNPC as well as the participation of private refineries to compete with public refineries instead of privatisation. What do you think?

We seriously believe that commercialisation of the NNPC should have been the best and more ideal solution to our problem. You cannot bring a foreigner to make your country the way you want it to be. The moment we think or believe that the problem can only be solved through bringing foreign investors to come and re-shape Nigeria for us, we are still existing in the falsehood of neo-colonialism and imperialism. At the end of the day, the direction of government, the national focus and identity will be lost. Take the case of the GSM operators, up till today, government has not been able to ensure that they bring down their tariff in spite of low quality of services. The Nigerian GSM is the costliest in the world over. Go and find out. Nigerians pay through their nose to service their GSM phone. We believe Nigerian government should be careful in accepting and implementing the World Bank and IMF neo-economist blue-print. It is like they are bringing more problems into the country. Workers in the sector believe that government should first see how best Nigerians can manage the system to satisfy all stake holders. The commercialisation and autonomy of the NNPC should have been the most ideal option. There has to be a built-in system or mechanism that will monitor the activities of NNPC to conform in line with the aim and objectives set for them. When there is a failure, government can always know who and what is responsible. The question people should ask is, what happens where our legislators and executives make mistakes as they have been doing, are we advocating that foreigners should be imported to take over from our legislators and executives? We believe that is only by giving the best amongst us the opportunity to perform and learn through the system over time that the system can change for the better. USA, Britain, France and other countries did not start today. They achieve what they have achieved today because of the environment and doing it over time. Today, we are taking them as our benchmark. It does not work like that. Give NNPC autonomy and allow it to operate, set target for them, find a better way of measuring their performance and make corrections where necessary. NNPC should also be allowed to seek strategic partners for technical, financial and managerial support to move the corporation forward. The solution, like I said, is not through privatisation. The problems of Nigeria is with Nigerians and not from outside. Therefore, the solution also is in Nigeria and not from out.

The issue of corruption is obviously seen as the bane of NNPC. The president of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole at your last delegates conference in Abuja charged workers in the industry to expose and help to fight corruption in the system. Has the association taken up the challenge?

PENGASSAN is one association that have so much respect for disciplined workforce. We believe that ethnical values in every system is the only way that can see the system through and progress. We have always had opportunity to organise necessary training for attitudinal and behavioral reforms. We have lined up more programmes that will bring both the NNPC management and the rank and file of staff to have basic orientation and necessary change to approach duties. We believe that with time, we will be able to make a gradual shift from negative perception people have towards public assets, utilities and corporation. We believe that by the time we are through with this, in about two or three times, we should be able to have a new and progressive thinking in the system. That will definitely move the system forward.