By Comfort Olayinka
No fewer than 100 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), have appended their signatures to mobilise their members and shut down the corporate headquarters of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), for failing to activate the Warri refinery.
This was, even as, the organisations have passed a vote of no confidence on the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the NNPCL, Mallam Mele Kyari, describing him as clog in the wheels of development of the energy sector of Nigeria.
The Coalition requested that Mr. Kyari, the NNPCL and its agencies should come out and explain to Nigerians how the 3 billion dollars spent on rehabilitation and activation of the Warri Refinery was spent.
Coming under the umbrella of Coalition of Civil Society Groups against Corruption in Energy Sector, the group said, as long as Kyari continues to decide what becomes the faith of over 150m Nigerians using petroleum products, and by extension, the fate of over 250m Nigerians who suffer the consequences of what happens in the energy sector; President Bola Tinubu will not achieve the desired revolution in the sector.
Engr. Efe Irabor, the Spokesperson for the CSOs, via a statement on Tuesday, urged Nigerians to prepare for the worst, as Kyari did not have intention of rehabilitating and putting into operations, the refineries in Warri, Kaduna and Port Harcourt.
Irabor recalled how the NNPCL moved to frustrate the Dangote refinery and the resultant effect on the market force, saying, if it was allowed to operate with its good intentions, and crude was willingly sold to it, the Dangote refinery would have crashed the fuel price and made life bearable for the masses.
“You will recall that sometime June, the Dangote Refinery said oil majors were blocking its access to locally produced crude and the regulator (NNPCL and NMDPRA) were allowing fuel traders import high-sulphur gasoil, thereby undermining its refinery.
“But when some lawmakers from the National Assembly visited the plant few weeks later, Alhaji Aliko Dangote insisted on a test of the gasoil from his plant with others sold in the local market. The result showed that Dangote Refinery’s diesel had a sulphur content of 87.6 ppm, whereas the other two samples showed sulphur levels exceeding 1800 ppm and 2,000 ppm, respectively.
“Meanwhile, the downstream regulator, NMDPRA had alleged that the gasoil processed by the Dangote Refinery was between 650 to 1200 parts per million of sulphur, thus inferior to imported products. Meanwhile, our findings revealed that Nigeria’s regulation allows for the sulphur content in gasoil to be about 50 ppm”, the Coalition said.
The statement also averred that the NNPCL planned to convert the refineries in Port Harcourt and Warri to blending plants, just to encourage cronies to continue importing products with high density of sulphur, not minding the environmental effects on the locals and the ripple effects on the masses who use these products.
“We shall rise against this act of irresponsibility. Nigerian refineries must be put into full functions. Kyari, the NNPCL, NMDPRA and all the concerned bodies should tell Nigerians how they spent over 3 billion dollars released to put the Warri Refinery into proper functioning. Anything short of full fledged refineries shall be resisted.
“In the coming days, we shall announce the date where we shall match, with each of the 100 groups mobilizing not less than 200 members, in a 2 million-man match to the NNPC towers and the National Assembly, to demand that the Warri Refinery be activated. To demand accountability from those who collected the money to fix our refineries and are now speaking English”, the Spokesperson added.
It would be recalled that, Mr. Olufemi Soneye, the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of NNPCL, had stated in February this year, that the Warri Refinery would be rehabilitated by the first quarter of this year.
Warri, one of Nigeria’s three refineries operated by NNPCL, is situated in Warri, Delta State, and was established in 1978. The other two are the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company in Kaduna State and the Port Harcourt Refining Company in Rivers State.
Warri Refinery is a complex conversion refinery that processes 125,000 barrels of crude oil daily. The facility houses a 1988-founded petrochemical plant that produces carbon black and polypropylene.
