The Bayelsa State Chairman of Trade Union Congress (TUC), Julius Laye, has advocated privatisation of the Federal Government-owned four refineries.

He also called on President Bola Tinubu to fast track the issuance of modular refinery licenses to capable investors.

Laye, who made the call in Yenagoa, the state capital, while exchanging views with journalists on contemporary issues about the state of the nation, said that the move, apart from mitigating the effects of fuel subsidy removal, would also impact positively on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, boost employment, taxes and exports.

He emphasised that management of refineries under Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) have not been effective.

The TUC boss recalled that between 2015 and 2022, the Federal Government spent billions of naira to resuscitate the nation’s refineries to make petroleum products available at affordable pump price; but nothing good came out of it.

He condemned the scenario where Nigeria, a leading crude oil producer, is now a notoriously importer of petroleum products with devastating effects.