The Partner for National Economic Progress (PANEP), a coalition of civil society organisations, on Wednesday, staged a mega rally in Abuja to demand an end to alleged sabotage and attacks on investments in Nigeria’s petroleum sector.
The rally, which was held at the Unity Fountain with the theme “National Unity Against Sabotage: Reclaiming Our Petroleum Sector for the People”, attracted a large crowd.
Speaking after the rally, Olayinka Dada Spike, who represented the coalition, stressed the central role of the petroleum sector in Nigeria’s economy but lamented that some individuals were bent on hijacking it for personal gain.
“The Nigerian petroleum sector remains a critical component of the national economy. However, it continues to face persistent threats from internal and external saboteurs whose activities hitherto included product diversion, smuggling, pipeline vandalism, hoarding, round tripping, dumping, collusion to inflate prices and worst of all, organised economic subversion targeted at frustrating efforts at making Nigeria an oil refining country,” Spike said.
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He said following the removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu and the commencement of operations at Dangote Refineries and Petrochemical Limited, the saboteurs resorted to “defamation campaigns against Dangote Refineries, conniving with rogue unions and agencies to discredit the refinery and continue the importation of very low quality petroleum products”.
“These actions directly sabotage government reforms, distort market stability, discourage real investments in the downstream petroleum sector, cause scarcity, and bring untold hardship to the Nigerian people,” he said.
The coalition noted that despite several interventions, including the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) and subsidy reforms, sabotage of downstream operations has continued to undermine progress and erode public trust.
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“This situation calls for urgent and coordinated civic action to support the federal government efforts in sanitising the sector and holding saboteurs accountable. This is exactly what PANEP has risen to, especially in furtherance of the liberation spirit of the Nigerian 65th Independence Day celebrations. Our mission is rooted in an unshakeable collective resolve that sabotage must stop, now and forever,” Spike said.
PANEP also decried the collapse of Nigeria’s refineries, describing the decades-long importation of petroleum products as “one of the most criminal and economically debilitating ventures in the history of Nigeria”.
“Alhaji Aliko Dangote has come to save us an oil cartel who fed fat on our collective failure to refine petroleum products locally. This caliber of persons used blackmail and unions to frustrate government efforts in order to maintain the subsidy regime,” the coalition said.
The coalition also accused PENGASSAN and NUPENG of sabotaging former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s decision to sell Nigeria’s moribund public refineries.
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The coalition urged Nigerians to “break free from mindless cabal and their agents in government agencies and those masquerading as labour unions”.
PANEP called on the federal government to “intensify efforts to stop further acts of sabotage as Nigerians are happy with the drop in prices of petroleum products”.
