The Integrity Youth Alliance has kicked against the report by International Centre for Investigative Reporting, ICIR saying that the NNPC Gambles $1.5bn on Financially Battered Port Harcourt Refinery.
In a press release on Monday in Port Harcourt signed by the Coordinator of the Alliance, Kelvin Adegbenga, he said that most of the report by ICIR is dated back to 2019 but those facts and figure has changed under the leadership of Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari.
Although the report suggested the privatising of the refinery, Adegbenga said, “Our point is you do not sell a refinery that is not functioning. It is not every sale that led to success. Ajaokuta Steel plant was sold but it did not make any difference. The people who bought it only tried to break it apart and then try to sell it off.
“So therefore, if you sell a refinery that is not working, the buyer might just decide to break it apart and then sell it off.
“ICIR should understand that when the refinery is working at full capacity, the government will then take a decision what to do with it; either to sell it off to private sector or to privatize it.
“Whatever government wants to do with it will be done after the rehabilitation as the Buhari’s administration want to give Nigerians a functional refinery first, Adegbenga reiterated.
Adegbenga reminded ICIR that there are quite a number of benefits in bringing the nation’s refineries back on stream. From satisfying local energy demand, growing the nation’s GDP, to strengthening the Naira by reducing the demand for Forex to creating thousands of jobs across the value chain (crude supply, operating and maintaining the refinery, product supply etc) including several third-party contractors that will supply outsourced services or goods, the advantages are huge.
The Alliance reiterated that unlike what is obtained in the past, the current refineries rehabilitation project is different for the following reasons: It consists of a governance structure that includes key independent external stakeholders: Ministry of Finance, NEITI, ICRC, PENGASSAN and NUPENG; Unlike the regular TAM, this rehabilitation will involve comprehensive repairs of the plant with significant replacement of critical equipment to ensure that the plant’s integrity is maintained for a minimum of ten years; It is funded through part-loan and part-government, with the financiers actively monitoring the execution of the project and KBR and NETCO are acting as NNPC Engineers who will be supervising the EPC contract to ensure that the project is delivered on schedule, within budget and at the right quality.
