The Nigeria Senate has raised concerns over the $1.5 billion approved in 2021 for the turn-around maintenance of the Port Harcourt Refinery, citing little to no results.
Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, Chairman of the Senate Ad Hoc Committee to Investigate Alleged Economic Sabotage in the Nigerian Petroleum Industry, expressed these concerns during an interactive session with stakeholders on Wednesday in Abuja.
Bamidele, who also serves as the Senate Leader, emphasized that it was unfair and improper to neglect public companies while private businesses continued to flourish and thrive.
He recalled that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had approved a $1.5 billion plan by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources in 2021 to rehabilitate and revamp the Port Harcourt Refinery.
Bamidele expressed concerns about the dysfunctional state of government-owned refineries, despite the billions of dollars spent on maintenance and turnaround efforts.
“The federal government has invested billions of dollars to maintain and turn around the state-owned refineries in Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Warri. But the refineries are not functioning.
“In 2021, specifically, the Federal Executive Council approved 1.5 billion dollars for the turn-around maintenance of the Port Harcourt Refinery. Yet, this investment has not yielded significant returns.
“For us in the Senate, we believe, it is unfair and unpatriotic to treat government businesses or public corporations as an orphan while private businesses are flourishing and thriving,” Bamidele said.
He said that the National Assembly is ready to carry out the investigative hearing with all sense of honour and responsibility.
In response, Mr Mele Kyari, Group Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), refuted claims of sabotaging domestic refinery.
He said the oil company has made a huge progress from being a loss operating firm for 43 years to becoming a profit- making entity.
Kyari said the there is, however, a calculated media attack on his person as well as the national oil company itself.
“All of us here see what is happening in the media. Targeted personal attack on my person, on the institution. And we all know how this works.
“They are deliberate, they are calculated. So, that creates the impression that NNPCL and our leadership are doing anything to create economic sabotage in our country.
“It is far from it. This company has grown. We are proud to say this. From a lost company for 43 years to a profit-making company today,” said Kyari.
Despite being an oil-producing nation, Nigeria does not have a working public refinery. The country has four state-owned refineries, which are located in Port Harcourt, Kaduna, and Warri.
Unfortunately, these refineries have been moribund for years, with billions of naira spent on their maintenance and rehabilitation without any significant improvement in their operations.
The lack of functional refineries has forced Nigeria to rely heavily on imported refined petroleum products, which has had a significant impact on the country’s economy.
NNPC boss, Mele Kyari, recently assured that the Port Harcourt refinery will commence operations this December. He also stated that the other three refineries in Kaduna and Warri would start operations in the second half of 2025.
This announcement comes as part of the government’s ongoing efforts to revitalize the nation’s refining capacity and reduce dependence on imported petroleum products.
However, there are doubts about this pronouncement because this is not the first time Kyari has made such a projection. Previous deadlines for the resumption of refinery operations have not been met, leading to skepticism about the feasibility of the current timeline.