THE Senate has raised concern over 1.5bn dollars approved in 2021 for the turn-around maintenance of the Port Harcourt Refinery with little or no result.
Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, Chairman, Senate Ad Hoc Committee to Investigate the Alleged Economic Sabotage in the Nigerian Petroleum Industry, raised the concern during an interactive session with stakeholders on Wednesday, in Abuja.
Mr Bamidele, who is also the Senate Leader, said it was unfair and wrong to treat public companies shabbily while private businesses were flourishing and thriving.
He recalled that the Federal Executive Council, FEC, had approved the plan by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to rehabilitate and turn around the Port Harcourt Refinery with 1.5 billion dollars.
Mr Bamidele expressed concerns about the dysfunctional state of government-owned refineries in spite of billions of dollars spent on turn-around maintenance.
“The federation is undergoing a truly challenging period. The distribution and supply of refined petroleum products has been irregular and problematic in the recent history of our fatherland.
“The long queues at filling stations are obviously a testament to this challenge.
“A situation, whereby we now depend almost entirely on the importation of these products even when we daily supply the global oil market about two per cent of its crude oil requirements is worrisome,” he said.
He said also of serious concern was the importation of hazardous petroleum products and dumping of substandard diesel into the country.
Under different administrations since 1999, Bamidele observed that 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.”
He said that the National Assembly was ready to carry out the investigative hearing with all sense of honour and responsibility.
Mele Kyari, Group Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, refuted claims of sabotaging domestic refinery.