Page 5 - AfrOil Week 04 2022

AfrOil COMMENTARY AfrOil

More specifically, it convinced the country’s would be imported into the country. We there-
labour unions not to proceed with demonstra- fore need to return to the National Assembly
tions and strikes. The Nigeria Labour Congress now to amend the budget and make additional
(NLC), for instance, said on January 25 that its provision for a subsidy from July to whatever
National Executive Council (NEC) had decided period that we agreed was suitable for the com-
to cancel nationwide demonstrations scheduled mencement of the total removal.”
for January 27 and February 2 and had informed
all of its affiliated union and partner civil society Change, but only to a limited extent
organisations (CSOs) of these cancellations. In practical terms, this means that the extent of
Ayuba Wabba, NLC’s president, made an change in Nigeria’s domestic fuel sector will be
official announcement to this effect on the limited over the next 18 months.
same day. “The leadership of the Congress has Certainly, there will be some change. There
communicated this organ decision to our civil already has been, as the state agencies that
society allies, who have stood stoically behind used to regulate the market – the Department Buhari’s odds of
Nigerian workers in our quest for social and eco- of Petroleum Resources (DPR), the Petroleum
nomic justice for workers and the downtrodden Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), keeping his party
people of our country,” he was quoted as saying and the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) –
by the Daily Trust. “Going forward, we will con- no longer exist. They have been replaced with in power in the
tinue to engage with the government on the very the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream
critical issues of ensuring local refining of petro- Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NPRA) and 2023 presidential
leum, creation of sustainable jobs and affordable the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission election will
price of petrol for Nigerian workers and people.” (NURC), and only the first of these has any juris-
diction over gasoline prices and sales. improve if voters
Emergency subsidy funding Additionally, there will be change in that new
In the meantime, Buhari’s team has already refineries are slated to open. Dangote Industries do not go to the
taken action with respect to the fuel subsidy. is slated to launch the first phase of operations at
Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed, who had its gigantic 650,000 barrel per day (bpd) oil-pro- polls with fresh
previously led the effort to eliminate gasoline cessing plant near Lagos before the end of 2022, memories of
price supports in line with the PIA, met with and several independent companies are work-
members of the National Assembly on Janu- ing to bring small modular refineries into pro- demonstrations
ary 24 and said that the government wanted to duction as well. Hopefully, these facilities will
suspend the lifting of the subsidy indefinitely. help increase the amount of gasoline available over gasoline
“[After] the [2022] budget was passed, we had for purchase in Nigeria to the point where the
consultations with a number of stakeholders, price subsidies (and the burden the impose on price increases
and it became clear that the timing was prob- the country’s budget) are no longer necessary.
lematic,” she said. “We discovered that prac- But in the meantime, Nigerian consumers
tically, there is still heightened inflation and will continue to be able to buy gasoline cheaply,
that the removal of [the] subsidy would further as they have been doing for years. Moreover,
worsen the situation and impose more difficul- they will still be doing in February 2023, when
ties on the citizenry. Mr. President does not want the country is due to hold its next presidential
to do that.” election. Buhari will not be participating in that
The Buhari administration hopes that the contest, as he is legally prohibited from seeking
launch of new domestic refining capacity will a third term in office. However, he appears to be
help solve problems in the domestic fuel market rather keen to ensure that his party, the All Pro-
but still has to fill certain gaps in the meantime, gressives Congress (APC), remains in power –
she said. “What we are now doing is to continue and his odds of achieving this aim will certainly
with the ongoing discussions and consulta- be higher if voters are not heading to the polls
tions in terms of putting in place a number of with fresh memories of demonstrations over
measures,” she explained. “One of these meas- gasoline price increases.
ures includes the roll-out of refining capacities As such, Buhari’s administration is probably
of existing refineries and the new ones, which perfectly content to keep moving slowly towards
would reduce the amount of products that full implementation of the PIA. ™

Based on graphic posted on NLC Twitter page (Image: Twitter/@NLCHeadquarters)

Week 04 26•January•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P5