President Bola Tinubu has assured Nigerians that the country’s refineries will soon resume operations, saying his administration is working to restructure the economics and operations of the facilities.

The President also expressed concern that the benefits of the Federal Government’s Compressed Natural Gas initiative were not reaching commuters as quickly as expected, saying much of the benefit appeared to be going to truck owners.

Tinubu spoke on Thursday when he received the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

The President described NUPENG as an important partner in the government’s efforts to reform the economy and recalled his commitment to removing the petrol subsidy despite threats of industrial action by oil and gas workers.

He said the savings from subsidy removal were being used to fund salaries and major infrastructure projects across the country, including the Lagos-Ibadan, Abuja-Kaduna and Abuja-Kano highways, as well as the planned Sokoto-Badagry road.

On CNG, Tinubu urged stakeholders to ensure that the savings from the cheaper fuel option were passed on to commuters.

He said, “Whatever benefit is coming from CNG is going into the pockets of truck owners. It’s not spreading as fast as I would like, but it should spread.”

Addressing concerns over the country’s refineries, the President said the facilities would return to operation but stressed that simply producing smoke and flames would not mean a refinery was functioning effectively.

According to him, the focus was on ensuring that the facilities became commercially viable and delivered the value for which they were established.

Tinubu said he had accepted responsibility for fixing the challenges inherited from previous administrations and would continue working towards improving the country’s economy.

Earlier, NUPENG President, Salimon Akanni Oladiti, appealed to the President to tackle the growing practice of casualisation of workers in the oil and gas industry, particularly in the upstream sector.

Oladiti said the union had raised the issue with several affected companies without achieving meaningful results and urged the President to intervene.

He also commended the administration for rehabilitating and expanding federal highways, noting that improved roads would make transportation safer for petroleum tanker drivers.

The NUPENG president further called for the revival of Nigerian Pipelines and Storage Company depots across the country to complement efforts to restore the nation’s refineries.

He recommended that the depots be handed over to private investors for management through an equity arrangement, arguing that this would help restore their operations and improve petroleum distribution nationwide.