By Ajibola Olaide, JKNewsMedia Reporter
REFINERIES WILL not be allowed to waste away after years of huge investments, President Bola Tinubu has said, pledging in-depth research, restructuring and leadership to reposition the facilities to deliver value and profit.
JKNewsMedia.com reports that Tinubu gave the assurance on Thursday in Abuja when he received the National Executive 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 the union’s request for the revival of the nation’s oil refineries, the President said the Federal Government would address the challenges confronting the facilities through a systematic and evidence-based approach rather than short-term interventions.
He added that the government would encourage detailed research and technical assessments to identify the structural, operational, financial and managerial challenges affecting 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 don’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 the assets and liabilities of his predecessor and took responsibility for fixing the refineries for what he described as the greatest common good of the population.
“I take responsibility for that, and we will do it,” he said.
Tinubu also appealed to NUPENG members to work diligently and passionately for democracy, describing it as a celebration of freedom and opportunity.
“And I promise you, you will enjoy a better Nigeria,” he said.
On the implementation of local government autonomy, the President said the constitutional issues involved were being reviewed for possible fine-tuning and appealed for understanding among stakeholders.
He also acknowledged a former President of the union, the late Frank Kokori, for his role in deepening 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,” Tinubu said.
The President further promised NUPENG executives greater inclusion in the implementation of the Presidential Initiative on Compressed Natural Gas, while challenging them to ensure the effects of the CNG drive reach commuters.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, also commended NUPENG for acknowledging what he described as the positive outcomes of Tinubu’s reform agenda, saying the mutual understanding had reduced friction between trade unions and the government.
He recalled a meeting with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) leadership two years earlier, when the President approved a wage increase for Nigerian workers and said labour unions did not need to wait five years before seeking a review of the minimum wage.
“For the first time, we saw the Labour Unions standing and giving you a standing ovation here in this room; it is very uncommon,” Idris said.
The minister added that it was instructive that NUPENG, which he described as an influential and central trade union, had come to acknowledge and appreciate developments arising from the administration’s reform agenda and their impact across various sectors of the economy.
“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.
Oladiti commended Tinubu for ending the fuel subsidy regime, describing the decision as a courageous step that had saved the country from decades of financial drain and depletion of national reserves.
He said the removal of the subsidy had begun to yield benefits by freeing resources for critical infrastructure development and other sectors of the economy.
The NUPENG president also commended the President’s renewed commitment to rehabilitating and constructing major highways, citing the ongoing 750-kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and the 1,068-kilometre Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway.
“For our members, a good road is the difference between arriving home safely and never arriving at all,” Oladiti said.
“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 appealed to the President to sustain efforts to revive the refineries, saying functional facilities would strengthen Nigeria’s energy security, reduce dependence on imported petroleum products and create more opportunities for Nigerian workers.
Thereafter, the NUPENG leaders later decorated Tinubu as the Grand Patron of the union.
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