Petroleum Minister Tinubu Mute as Multibillion-Dollar Refineries Crumble
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu serves as Nigeria’s minister of petroleum yet he has failed to provide updates on the failed repairs of the multibillion-dollar Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Warri refineries.
In April, a document revealed that the Warri Refinery’s maintenance cost was about $656.9 million. The document also showed that the refinery shut down only one month after Mele Kyari, the former Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) Group Chief Executive Officer, claimed it had kicked off.
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Similarly, the Port Harcourt refinery, which began operation in November and was allocated $1.5 billion for repairs, has been dormant since January 25 due to safety concerns in its Crude Distillation Unit Main Heater.
While it operated, the refinery in Port Harcourt only worked at 37 per cent of its capacity.
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Meanwhile, the federal government had earmarked $740.6 million for the Kaduna Refinery.
However, despite these huge sums and the promise to reduce Nigeria’s reliance on fuel importation, neither Tinubu nor the NNPCL has provided convincing explanations for the setbacks.
In March, during a Senate hearing on the state of the refineries, lawmakers criticised the NNPCL’s lack of transparency and raised concerns about how billions of dollars were disbursed without measurable progress. Officials from the petroleum ministry were summoned but failed to appear, further deepening public mistrust and speculation over the true state of the facilities.
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Meanwhile, while touring the Warri Refinery at its kick-off event, Kyari claimed that real changes were possible in Nigeria, and restarting the refineries was one of them.
“We are taking you through our plant. This plant is running. Although it is not 100 per cent complete, we are still in the process. Many people think these things are not real. They think real things are not possible in this country. We want you to see that this is real,” Kyari had said.
“I must congratulate our team for their determination and extreme belief that this company can restart this plant. This has brought the result we are seeing in collaboration with our contractors. We have proved that it is possible to restart a plant that you deliberately shut down. We have proved this.”
But as of Monday, FIJ can confirm that Tinubu, who doubles as the petroleum minister, has yet to issue any public statement or clarification regarding the setbacks these refineries have faced.
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Despite mounting questions and billions spent, neither his office nor the Ministry of Petroleum has communicated transparently with the public or the press.
Credit: FIJ
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