Oil subsidy remains the only benefit of the masses —–PTD, PRO

Aboyeji

Comrade Tayo Aboyeji is the Public Ralation Officer of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers branch of NUPENG Lagos Zonal council. In this interview with Olusesan Laoye he talks about how the present federal government should eradicate corruption in the oil sector and of the opinion that oil subsidy be sustained but monitored to prevent corruption Excepts;
How is your branch of NUPEND coping with its mode of operations since the present federal government came into office?
We are coping very well and we are adjusting to the policy of the government. What is paramount to us is to ensure that our members comply with the policy of government and determined to take care of our member’s welfare. Despite the prevailing fuel scarcity or whatever is happening in the country, we are coping with our members.
What is the stand of your Union about the issue of fuel subsidy which is creating controversy in the country as to whether it should be removed or not?
As far as we are concerned I think fuel subsidy should not be removed because that is the only benefit of the masses from the government. In other countries there are subsidies they subsidize a lot things. The problem we have with subsidy is the way it is being managed as regards the outrageous amount they declared as subsidy.

It is managed very well, to us there is nothing wrong with it and we would advocate that it should stay. You see education is subsidized, water rate is being subsidized and electricity is equally being subsidized so subsidizing fuel in the interests of the generality of the people of the country is not too much for the government to do.
What then will you say to the fact that the fuel subsidy has now been identified as a big means of corruption in the country?
I was specific about it and that was why I said that if it is well managed it should continue. Again if the present government could ensure that all our refineries are working to maximum capacity the issue of fuel subsidy would be reduced or even wiped out completely because there would be no importation. The problem now is that the subsidy we have is import driven. To me right now the corruption in the petroleum importation can be curtailed by government which I am sure the present government is prepared to look into.
You said that if our refineries are repaired and work to capacity, it will help but one fundamental issue the country is facing is pipe line vandalisatioin don’t you think this would create problem and still encourage bunkering?
The government knows that the refineries cannot be taken cared of without the pipeline being taken care of. The government no doubt will put up some measures and identified areas where things like that are carried out and put adequate security in place to make sure that vandals are apprehended and punished
What is your impression about the massive fraud now being discovered in NNPC especially the illegal exportation of crude running to several billions of dollars?
I want to be frank with you, the problem we have in this regard is the insincerity on the part of the previous government. The big question was that how can the government allow crude to be stolen and exported illegally.

In fact you heard what President Buhari said that some of the ministers in the immediate past government were involved in this. So this is insincerity on the part of the previous government. I can tell you now that with the way the government is going and the steps so far taken all theft would be eradicated.
What you are saying is that your Union is in full support of the measures being taken by the present APC government of President Buhari?
We support this because any good policy or programmes being carried out by any government should be supported by Nigerians. We support it and we are going to continue to back any good policy that would ameliorate the sufferings of the Nigerian masses.
How your Union did then faired during the last government of the Jonathan GoodLuck administration?
Well you can not single out our union in the isolation of other Nigerians because everybody believes that things should be done the proper way. AS far as we are concerned there are several areas especially in the areas of petroleum which the last administration did not handle very well. It was glaring that people who were saddled with managing certain areas in the oil industry failed the country in the manner they functioned.
Do you subscribe to the argument of the present Kaduna State Governor Mallam Nazir El -Rufai that President Buhari should change the structure of the NNPC and as well change its name in view of the disrepute it has brought to the country locally and internationally through corruption?
There is no bout that we all believe in Nigeria that there is a lot of corruption going on in NNPC but to me scraping it or giving it a different name would not be the solution to the issue on ground because it is human being that would still be in NNPC.

What is important is to have a sincere leader who is ready to govern with fear of God and I can say categorically that if we have a good leader corruption would be wipe out in all facets of our lives in Nigeria. Corruption is rampant everywhere because people feel that the leaders are not doing the right thing. I strongly believe that what we need to be sanity into NNPC is total restructuring and once this is done things will fall back to shape.
The traffic situation in Apapa and at the depot is a big problem and your union and other stake holders had a meeting with the Lagos State government and security agencies recently how are you tackling it and what is the situation now after the meeting?
The gridlock along Oshodi Apapa express way is with combination of factors. At Coconut for example, the largest concentration of petroleum depot is there. Going to Tincan that road serves as a another major link to the Ports and it is known all over the world that the roads leading to the Ports are always very busy but right now we are managing the situation.

The state government has now set up a task force in conjunction with the Petroleum Tanker drivers and this has tremendously reduced the gridlock. The solution is for both tanker and container drivers to have a large parking space that could contain many trucks so that all vehicles are park there to give room for a call up system where both the container and Petroleum tanker drivers would be call in one after the other to where they would load or lift their containers.
We have talked about corruption in the petroleum industry and now that the federal government is determined to probe the sector what is your take on this?
Let us be honest with ourselves every Nigerian believed that the last administration was corrupt you can even recollect that some members of the PD said that there was nothing wrong in probing any of their members found to be corrupt. As far as I am concerned if probe would ensure that all the ill-gotten wealth is recovered it is good to carry it out.

My advice is that they should be transparent about it so that it will not look as if some people are unduly probed for witch hunting. Any one found guilty should after being made to refund his loot be prosecuted.
What are the expectations of NUPENG particularly your wing of the association from the present federal government?
I would first say that we have reasonable NUPENG leaders. I can say that since the present government came into existence our leaders have engaged them in series of dialogue that would stabilize the oil industry

.In nterm of confrontations for sometimes now there has not been any confrontation with the government. There could only be confrontation on issues which are beyond our reasonable and well articulate leaders.

Let me say this the confrontations we had with the last administration was because after our leaders had engaged in dialogue and agreements was reached but at the end of the day the government when it came to implementations refused to honour them. With the present leadership in the entire NUPENG and petroleum Tanker Divers Union in particular, I don’t envisage any confrontation with the present government because they are understanding and ready to pursue any demand or grievances with dialogue
What is your comment about the distribution of petroleum products which people believed is lopsided?
WE have at different meetings with the government made them realize that over concentration of Petroleum product in the NNPC depots is part of the factors causing the problem of distribution and even the gridlock in Apapa.

We them realize that they should make use of other facilities. Unfortunately other NNPC facilities in the country are not working except that of Lagos as such we have asked the government to decentralize how fuel would be distributed
How do you think corruption could be tackled generally in the country because none payment of workers’ salaries by some state has been attributed to corruption in some of the states which always lead to the EFCC hunting for past state governor after leaving office?
In Nigeria today we all know that corruption is our major problem and that was when during the campaign of President Buhari he said that he would tackle three major issues, which are corruption, employment and insecurity. Let us thank God the President has started well. What he has done so far has shown that the man means business.
This is the kind of leader we need who can face our politicians to challenge them to be accountable for their past deeds Apart from the fact that the present leader is having the courage to challenge our politicians and those who have worked in government to be accountable, the areas where he should critically look into is that of leakages.
He must ensure that all the avenues being used to steal government’s money are blocked. If this is done people won’t have direct access to funds talk less of stealing them I think this present government is capable of handling this.