The Integrity Youth Alliance has enlightened the International Centre for Investigative Reporting on the timely rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery.
Responding to ICIR latest publication titled ‘Against common sense, NNPC commences $1.5bn Port Harcourt refinery repairs,’ the Alliance through a press release on Saturday in Kano State signed by the Publicity Secretary of the Alliance, Danjuma Lamido, he said that detractors usually think a mere mention of rehabilitation means another round of “business as usual”, where resources are drained with nothing to show for it at the end of the day.
“We wish to remind those against the rehabilitation that it is instructive to note that this rehabilitation is different because interested parties who benefit from the age-long importation largesse; and who fleece the nation dry will potentially be out of business by the time the rehabilitation is completed, the statement said.
The statement read further, “This same ICIR did a publication titled ‘NNPC gambles $1.5bn on financially battered Port Harcourt refinery.’ They have never see nothing good in Pres. Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. These detractors probably forgot that this was an administration which, from its inception, made clear its intention to bring back the refineries to their optimal capacities.
It will be recalled that the representative of Maire Technimont SPA Masu Alberto said the rehabilitation began in 2017 with an integrity test of the refinery.
“In 2019, we did work on it and then now. We’re deploying a good number of engineers,” he said.
He explained that refurbishing of the technical building, replacement of the fire-fighting, deluge sprinkler systems, refurbishing of 24 offsite tanks, replacement of electrical equipment in the substation, installation of primary earthing integration and new lighting system would begin in earnest.
The Alliance reiterated that it seems the Buhari Presidency throwing its full weight and support behind the NNPC and gibing the Corporation a free hand to execute the project without any interference in the contracting processes seems not to have gone down well with detractors.
“We wish to remind the ICIR that the rehabilitation is not an expensive gamble because the rehabilitation is been funded through part-loan and part-government, with the financiers actively monitoring the execution of the project.
“Moreover, African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is the reliable lender that has raised $1billion towards the rehabilitation project. In the same vein, Federal Government has raised the sum of US$550m. A credible and capable lender like Afreximbank would never agree to put such huge amount of money where there will be no value, the statement said.
The statement further read, “It is true that previous diagnostic review of the Refineries usually end up in corruption but since the emergence of the 19th Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mal Mele Kyari, he has vowed to put an end to the corruption epidemic that has eaten deep into the NNPC.”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.
“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 refined products also serve as feedstock for small scale local manufacturing. The most significant and visible benefit is energy security for the country, the statement concluded.
