Goli Innocent 
Former Vice President and the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar, has reacted to plans by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to privatize the recently rehabilitated Port Harcourt refinery.
New Telegraph had earlier reported that the NNPCL described the scope of its hunt for respectable and legitimate operations and maintenance firms to assume administration of the refinery in a statement that was posted on its website on Monday.
Various facets of refinery business activities, such as production and operations planning and execution, environmental management, health and safety management, and small project supervision, would fall under the purview of the chosen company.
Nonetheless, Atiku stated in a tweet on Tuesday morning that it would have been preferable if the NNPCL had sold the refinery before it underwent rehabilitation.
Atiku, who had in the past made a case for privatizing the oil sector, tasked the NNPCL to explain to Nigerians the benefits that would be derived from privatizing the refinery.
READ ALSO:
- NNPCL: Tinubu Rewards Performance, Not Blackmail
- NNPCL Restores 275,000bpd Production
- NNPCL Sets To Begin Importation Of Crude Oil
He wrote, “I have always advocated for far-reaching reforms to reposition Nigeria’s oil sector and, indeed, other sectors of our economy. In particular, I had consistently called on the Buhari administration to break its monopoly in all infrastructure sectors, including the refineries, and give investors, both foreign and domestic, a larger role in funding and management.
“My position has been well laid out in The Atiku Plan (2018) and My Covenant With Nigerians (2022). But our suggestions fell on deaf ears. First, they refused to privatize the refineries. They left them idle for years while paying humongous staff salaries. Then, they contracted a loan of US$1.5 billion for rehabilitation.
“Now, the current administration wants to turn the rehabilitated refinery to private concerns for operation and maintenance!
“Without prejudice to the terms of the agreement between the NNPC and the private operators, it would undoubtedly have been better if the NNPC had sold the refinery, pre-rehabilitation, to avoid the burden of debt.
“The @nnpclimited must explain to the satisfaction of Nigerians what benefits its newly discovered approach to privatisation will confer on Nigeria and Nigerians.”
