Drawing the curtain on Part One of this exercise last week, I did promise of returning with the concluding Part [2] this week – it is that promise made, that is being kept today. We should also not forget that I equally mentioned the deceitful role the Federal Government played in this disgraceful fraud against Nigerians by the NNPCL.
The truth remains that the NNPCL is under the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and that Ministry has two Ministers of State – one for Gas while the other one is for Oil. Though the book is silent on who the substantive Minister is, Nigerians know the fact that the President – Bola Tinubu, is the substantive Minister of that Ministry – Petroleum Resources.
It means therefore, without any contradiction, that the NNPCL reports to the President; either through State Ministers or directly to him. Again, this is an incontrovertible fact. Ipso facto, whatever approval that the NNPCL needed for loans, repairs, purchases, contracts for turn-around-maintenance [TAM], or whatsoever businesses, comes from the President. Again, this validly remains a statement of fact.
It can therefore not be said that the President of Nigeria is new, or innocent, about whatever that happened – or happening, at the NNPCL, at any given time. The root of this big fraud of billions of US$ Dollars that the federal government’s agency – Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC] is probing cannot be new to him.
For now, let us continue with the conclusion of this exercise, please.
FG deceiving Nigerians – Expert
An energy expert, Kelvin Emmanuel, said the Warri, Port Harcourt, and Kaduna refineries were never truly set to resume operations.
Speaking on Arise News, Emmanuel described the televised commissioning as a “charade,” accusing the government of staging the event to mislead the public.
He said, “For months, I had said that Warri, Port-Harcourt, and Kaduna were never going to come back into operation and that what Nigerians saw on television as the commissioning was just a charade.
“On August 12, 2021, the Federal Executive Council approved memos for monies worth $2.96bn to be raised for the turnaround maintenance of the three refineries.
“This money can build a brand new 60,000-barrel refinery. The last of these refineries was completed in 1989 by Shell. So, these refineries were built as very sizable modular refineries to power the operations of operators off-stream.
“So, they were not built to refine. The PHRC and WRPC don’t have a catalytic reform unit that can convert Naphtha to PMS.
“The 46km pipeline that was designed to supply feedstock from Escravos to Warri is out of service. So, how are you carrying crude oil to the refinery?
“One of the proofs that the NNPCL was deceiving Nigerians that it was refining is that most of our products are supplied from Lagos.
“We have a situation where $2.96bn was approved by the FEC, but there is nothing to show for it. So, if you claim that your refineries are operational, it is supposed to deliver up to 7 million litres. If you check the balance sheet of the company, the refineries are a loss-making business.”
Staff threaten strike
Meanwhile, plans to restart a section of Nigeria’s 125,000b/d Warri refinery are at risk due to an indefinite strike planned by plant support staff scheduled to begin on Monday, May 5, 2025. The strike is in protest against casualisation, low pay, and lack of benefits.
A new report by Argus Media said the state-owned company had planned to restart the crude and vacuum distillation units (CDU and VDU) and a gas plant in the first week of May 2025. But the support staff have timed their strike to disrupt these plans.
Support staff representative, Dafe Ighomitedo, said the striking workers had been protesting their employment terms since 2015.
“A previous strike called in April 2022 would have delayed the start of the quick-fix programme, but it was called off following appeals from community leaders and a promise from refinery management to address the workers’ demands if they supported the programme,” Ighomitedo said.
“Workers were promised an improved salary structure upon the refinery’s restart, but that promise has not been fulfilled,” he added.
The Delta State Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Harry Okenini, speaking, expressed worry over the non-production of petrol at the Warri refinery, months after the announced completion of its rehabilitation.
The IPMAN boss said, “Since the inauguration of the rehabilitated Warri refinery on January 5, 2025, there has been no green light for IPMAN to lift petroleum products from the facility.
“For the past months, there has been no product for marketers here, and we cannot just stay idle, so we decided to source products from the private depots.
“These private depot owners, today they will increase the price; tomorrow they will increase it again. So, the whole thing has caused problems for the business.”
He appealed to the Federal Government to give the newly appointed board of the NNPCL a free hand to work.
Also, the Petroleum Products Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria called for an investigation into the condition of the refineries.
This call, by PETROAN, was only after having offered itself as the main Catalyst Agent of good news about the unequalled efficiency of the NNPCL. A point even came that PETROAN stood out astutely, defending every lie that came out of NNPCL and presenting same to Nigerians as nothing but the gospel truth. But now that all the lies and frauds of the NNPCL are gushing out without control, it is like PETROAN is now singing a new song.
Listen to the latest encounter between PETROAN and Correspondent of the Saturday Punch Newspaper below.
Challenged by one of our correspondents to defend its earlier claims that the refineries were supplying fuel to its members, PETROAN National President, Billy Gillis-Harry, said the refineries were working at the time he and his team visited the sites.
He said, “We had very clear knowledge because we had a technical team with us, and the evaluation showed that there was hope for these refineries to work. We are not the contractors; we are not the ones who maintain them.
“So, we went home with the fact that we saw the refineries working and the furnaces were lighting up. But if today they are not working, then, of course, PETROAN probably needs to revisit and check what happened and what didn’t happen, which we are going to do.
“Since this news came out, I have had meetings with NMDPRA and a few other critical leaders in the industry.
“For us, we want to encourage the system to be very efficient. But if what has been done is not good enough, of course, you can see that punishment is being meted out to those who managed it. So, we hope that things will become much better.”
An energy expert, Dan Kunle, described the much-celebrated renovation as a scandal.
Giving insights, Kunle said the Federal Government failed to convince the original builders of the refinery from Japan to come for its renovation, as the country’s government warned against insecurity.
He said another contractor was employed to fix these refineries at a high cost with nothing to show for it yet.
He said the government was only wasting money on renovating the refineries, saying the Kaduna refinery has no pipelines to supply it with crude oil.
“Why did we avoid Japan? Why did we go around when a sovereign authority like Nigeria could not convince Japan to come and fix the refinery? And the same Japanese company is in NLNG doing contracts.
“Kaduna refinery has no pipe to feed it. Even if you fix the Kaduna refinery with the $800m or $750m, how will crude get there? So why will you put the rehabilitation of that place on course and abandon the crude pipeline from Escravo to Warri, to Auchi, to Lokoja, to Suleja?
“The crude pipeline was built in the late 70s. Today, you cannot pressurise crude from Escravo to that place.
“All these three refineries, we are wasting money rehabilitating them,” Kunle stated.
He accused Kyari of launching media propaganda with public funds to deceive Nigerians that the refineries were working.
This Court Adjourns –—————- C.O.U. R.T
