New Telegraph

Atiku, Wike to FG: $1.5bn PH refinery renovation suspicious, empty promise

…forum lauds Buhari, Sylva over repair approva

Mixed reactions yesterday trailed the planned renovation of the Port Harcourt Refinery and Petrochemical Company at a whopping sum of $1.5 billion (about N600 billion), with former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar objecting to it. While Atiku said the Nigerian economy could not sustain such unprofitable venture, Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, dismissed it as an empty promise. Disagreeing with Atiku and Wike, a group, the South-South Emerging Leaders Forum (SELF), however, expressed happiness over the approval, stating that the move would improve the socio-political and economic development of the host communities.

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) had, on Wednesday through the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, said the rehabilitation would be done in three phases of 18, 24 and 44 months. But Atiku, in a statement, said all the nation’s four refineries have been loss-making for multiple years. He said: “It is questionable wisdom to throw good money after bad. Moreover, the cost appears prohibitive.

Too prohibitive, especially as Shell Petroleum Development Company last year sold its Martinez Refinery in California, USA, which is of a similar size as the Port Harcourt Refinery, for $1.2 billion. “We must bear in mind that the Shell Martinez Refinery is more profitable than the Port Harcourt Refinery.” Atiku argued that to budget the sum of $1.5 billion to renovate or turn around the Port Harcourt refinery would appear to be an unwise use of scarce funds at this critical juncture for a multiplicity of reasons. He advised that at this critical period, the nation should be “prudent with the use of whatever revenue we are able to generate, and even if we must borrow, we must do so with the utmost responsibility and discipline.” Also reacting to the approval, Wike said it was one of the empty promises by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in order to deceive the people as the 2023 general elections draw nearer.

He said there was nothing to cheer about the news that the FEC had approved the plan by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to rehabilitate the Port Harcourt Refinery, stressing that it was politically motivated. Wike said: “We have heard these promises and nothing has happened… Approval is not disbursement of fund. Meanwhile, the Forum, in commending President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of State for Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva, for the decision, expressed confidence that apart from improving economic activities in the region, the approval would also create massive direct and indirect employment for the people.

In a statement issued to journalists in Abuja, signed by its National Coordinator, Mr. Benjamin Kolowei, the Forum said the move to fix the refinery will positively impact the economic activities in the South-South region. The statement reads: “Our forum received the news to fix Port Harcourt Refinery with great joy. The move shows the commitment of the current administration to tackle the challenges facing our oil sector head on. “We believe that if the refinery starts operating at its capacity, it will improve a lot of economic activities in the South-South region, especially and the country at large will benefit from the project. Specifically, there will be employment, not only for the people of the region, but Nigerians generally.

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