The Senate expressed disapproval about the 1.5 billion dollars that were allocated in 2021 for the Port Harcourt Refinery’s turnaround maintenance, which produced little to no results.
This point was brought up on Wednesday in Abuja at an interactive session with stakeholders by Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, the Chairman of the Senate Ad Hoc Committee to Investigate the Alleged Economic Sabotage in the Nigerian Petroleum Industry.
The Senate Leader, Bamidele, stated that it was unjust and improper to treat public corporations poorly while private enterprises were doing well.
He recalled that the proposal to renovate and turn around the Port Harcourt Refinery with 1.5 billion dollars had been approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
Bamidele expressed concerns about the dysfunctional state of government-owned refineries despite billions of dollars spent on turn-around maintenance.
“The federation is undergoing a truly challenging period. The distribution and supply of refined petroleum products have 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.
