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SENATE PROBES $1.5B SPENT ON PORT HARCOURT REFINERY REHABILITATION
The Senate has raised concerns over 1.5 billion dollars approved in 2021 for the turn-around maintenance of the Port Harcourt Refinery with little or no result.
Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, Chairman of the Senate Ad Hoc Committee to Investigate the Alleged Economic Sabotage in the Nigerian Petroleum Industry, raised the concern during an interactive session with stakeholders on Wednesday, in Abuja.
Bamidele, who is also the Senate Leader, said it was unfair and wrong to treat public companies shabbily while private businesses were flourishing and thriving.
He recalled that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had approved the plan by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to rehabilitate and turn around the Port Harcourt Refinery with 1.5 billion dollars.
Bamidele expressed concerns about the dysfunctional state of government-owned refineries despite billions of dollars spent on turn-around maintenance.
“The federation is undergoing a truly challenging period. The distribution and supply of refined petroleum products have been irregular and problematic in the recent history of our fatherland.
“The long queues at filling stations are obviously a testament to this challenge.
“A situation whereby we now depend almost entirely on the importation of these products even when we daily supply the global oil market about two per cent of its crude oil requirements is worrisome,” he said.
He said also of serious concern was the importation of hazardous petroleum products and dumping of substandard diesel into the country.
Under different administrations since 1999, Bamidele observed that the federal government “has invested billions of dollars to maintain and turn around the state-owned refineries in Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Warri. But the refineries are not functioning.
