Deregulation: Alison-Madueke did not lie, Ajuonuma tells NLC

Source: pointblanknews.com

 
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC),  has told the  Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), that the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, told the whole truth regarding the planned deregulation programme.

 the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Dr Levi Ajuonuma, said  nothing had changed about the Federal Government's objective of deregulating the downstream sector of the petroleum industry to encourage the influx of investments and the plough back of savings from subsidy into key infrastructure projects.

“There is no lie about the fact that government has consulted widely and is still consulting with key stakeholders like labour, traditional institutions, organised private sector, the National Assembly to reach an amicable understanding of the issues involved in deregulation. And I am sure Labour cannot deny this fact,” Ajuonuma stated.

He added that the facts on ground suggest that government could not continue to bear the burden of subsidy which currently gulps a huge chunk of the total annual federal budget.

Dr Ajuonuma argued that it was a fact that the subsidy claims had benefited only a few individuals to the detriment of the generality of Nigerians for whom it is meant.

“Let us be bold enough to call a spade a spade. The masses travel on big mass transit vehicles which run on diesel, Lorries and other heavy duty vehicles that convey farm produce from the rural areas to urban centres are also powered by the same diesel which has since been deregulated,” he said.