Only weeks after the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) asserted that the Port Harcourt Refining Company had been restreamed, a group of socioeconomic activists and energy champions have denounced the company’s demise.
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At a press conference in Port Harcourt on Saturday, the Energy Reforms Advocates and Socio-Economic Activists, led by Dr. Thomas Zion Godknows, voiced their indignation over the unsuccessful restoration project, which cost Nigerians $1.5 billion. The organisation claims that the NNPCL’s dishonest behaviour and flagrant misrepresentations regarding the refinery’s condition are the reason for its closure.
According to Godknows, who called the rehabilitation effort a scam, the NNPCL had been lying about the refinery’s condition, saying it had been manufacturing and distributing refined goods when, in reality, it had completely suspended operations.
Additionally, the organisation claimed that the NNPCL had turned the Port Harcourt Refining Company into a blending facility for the purpose of passing off Russian crude oil polluted with sanctions, a charge the company has previously refuted. “Recall that we categorically stated that the Port Harcourt Refining Company was no longer able to resume as a refinery because Mele Kyari, the Group Chief executive officer (GCEO) of NNPCL, with associates, has decided to convert it into a blending plant for passing off sanction-tainted crude oil from Russia,” the statement continued.
“Once more, the firm strongly denied this fact as malicious. When NNPCL put up a Nollywood show about reopening the refinery, the real troublemaker came to light. While 200 trucks loaded petrol in a Nollwood-style video production, six trucks hauled residual or old stock. Before it became apparent that the refinery was only mixing a number of mixtures to reassure Nigerians, the shock of seeing leftover stock presented as freshly refined items had barely subsided, and they began to enquire.
“As soon as Nigerians began to enquire about the risks that the blended mixture posed to their cars, the NNPCL spread the word about exporting refined products to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).” As planned, Kyari transferred the mixture from Port Harcourt Refinery to Gulf Transport & Trading Limited (GTT), a company situated in Dubai that was opportunistically established by Adisu Aliyu, a stand-in for Mele Kyari, who manages his syndicates.
“The Port Harcourt Refinery’s failure serves as a stark reminder of how urgently NNPCL reform is needed. It serves as a reminder to protect the other refineries from the damage caused by NNPCL. “For this reason, we are now calling for Warri Refineries to be fully disclosed. Will Warri Refinery end up being just another mixing facility that shuts down after just 23 days? What stories of the other refineries will we hear in the moonlight? “It is really concerning that NNPCL’s operations are not more transparent.
The public should be given frank and transparent information about the difficulties and developments of a project as important to the country’s energy security as the Port Harcourt refinery. The lack of thorough justifications and accountability procedures merely serves to reinforce stakeholder mistrust.
In order to determine the underlying reasons for the shortcomings and guarantee responsibility for the financial mismanagement, the organisation thus encouraged the Federal Government to carry out an impartial audit of the Port Harcourt Refinery rehabilitation project.
