“N10 Trillion Spent Already”: Tinubu’s Appointee Asks FG to Sell Nigeria's Refineries
- Taiwo Oyedele, Presidential Fiscal Policy, and Tax Reform Committee chairman, said Nigerians should pray that the country's refineries do not work
- Oyedele said the Nigerian government has pumped about N10 trillion into the refineries’ maintenance
- He said petrol prices in Nigerian will be some of the highest if the refineries become functional
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Taiwo Oyedele, the chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reform Committee, revealed the mammoth expenditure on Nigeria’s four refineries during the Platform Nigeria Summit held in Lagos on October 2, 2023.
Oyedele stated that selling Nigeria’s four refineries is more profitable than having them functional due to the enormous amount pumped into their turnaround maintenance in the last decade.
Source: Getty Images
Oyedele also said the assumptions by Nigerians that petrol prices would be low if the refineries were functional were incorrect.
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Marketers kick as FG mulls sale of Nigeria’s refineries after spending N10tn on maintenance
He asked Nigerians to pressure the government to sell the refineries and pray they do not work.
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Four refineries gulped N10 trillion in 10 years, NASS begins probe
Nigeria has four state-owned refineries with a combined capacity of 445,000 barrels daily.
All the four refineries have remained moribund despite the amount spent on them to function.
The tax expert stated that the National Assembly reported spending over N10 trillion on refinery maintenance despite being in a state of disrepair and not producing a drop of refined product.
Oyedele cautioned that if the refineries processed crude without fixing their inefficiencies, petrol costs in Nigeria would be the highest globally, replacing subsidies with refinery subsidies.
BusinessDay reported that the National Assembly recently announced an investigation into the alleged N11.3 trillion spent on the four refineries between 2010 and 2020.
According to the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts Chairman, the refineries have remained in disrepair despite the vast amount spent on maintenance.
Tinubu promises to fix Nigeria's refineries.
In an earlier report by Legit.ng, the government announced fresh move to rehabilitate the Warri, Kaduna, and Port Harcourt refineries.
President Bola Tinubu said the Port Harcourt refinery would begin operations in December.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, said Nigeria expects the four refineries to be functional by the end of next year.
Idle refinery workers earn N138 billion in 2022
A previous report by Legit.ng revealed that refinery workers at the shut Port Harcourt, Kaduna, and Warri refineries earned N138 billion in 2022, which caused the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) some deficits.
There are some worries over meeting deadlines and violations of local content laws plaguing refurbishing the refineries.
The Guardian reported that the NNPC had shut down the 445,000-capacity refineries for more than two years, retained over 1,701 staff at the refineries, and set aside $1.5 billion for rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery and $1.4 billion for those of Warri and Kaduna.
The refineries incurred total losses of N7,088 billion in August 2020 and N7,043 billion in September of the same year before spiking to N5,489 billion in October.
In November 2020, it surged to N5,995 billion and increased again to N8,278 billion in December.
According to Punch, the refinery workers earned about N69 billion despite generating nothing in 2021.
The operational deficit for January 2021 was N5,371 billion, N6,879 billion loss for February, N3,866 billion in March, N3,544 billion in April and N5,243 billion in May, N3,753 billion in June and N3, and 752 billion in July and N3,819 billion in August of the same year.
"N200 Per litre unrealistic": Marketers address claim petrol price will drop after refinery repair
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) explained that petrol prices would not be as low as N200 per litre even if the refineries were working.
The association disclosed this following a recently published report, where the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) claimed that petrol prices could crash to below N200 per litre if the refineries become functional.
The Chairman of the Rivers State chapter of IPMAN, Joseph Obele, advised the Nigerian government to fix the refineries as planned to reduce the price of petroleum products in the country.
Source: Legit.ng
