The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has once more reiterated its commitment to stop fuel importation by 2019. This statement was made by the Group Managing Director Dr Maikanti Baro at a conference in Houston Texas, United State Of America.
The GMD who was a special guest of honour at the conference on Offshore Technology and Nigeria oil award, said the Corporation alongside its partners are working towards the Federal Government objective of ending the importation of fuel into the country by the end of 2019.
This they plan to achieve by rehabilitation of already existing four refineries to get up to a 90% capacity, introduction of new ones, especially modular refineries which are still ongoing.
This must be a cheering news to the ears if all things go well as planned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. According to the statement by the group public affairs Mr Ndu Ughamadu on the website of the corporation says:
The GMD explained that in terms of refining and production of local petroleum products, the ongoing arrangement with the original builders of the refineries to return them to at least 90 percent capacity utilization before the 2019 deadline was still intact.
He also noted that the long cherished dream of transforming Nigeria from a net exporter of crude oil to a net exporter of petroleum products would in the months ahead transform into a reality.
Also, the tendering exercises for companies interested in the rehabilitation programmes of the nation’s four refineries using a contractor-financing model had been completed and successful companies for the different projects would soon be announced.
This model is expected to be a self-sustaining financial model with near zero reliance on the federal government funds. For smooth running and implementation, we are also changing the operating and commercial framework of the refineries to make them work efficiently and be commercially viable.
The NNPC GMD also stated that the corporation and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources were also collaborating to encourage the establishment of modular refineries in the Niger Delta area to encourage job creation. He announced that, so far, about 35 expressions of interest for the establishment of modular refineries had been declared and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) had issued licenses to 13 of them.
The statement concluded. But my question is, how true can this be, given the previous GMD have made same promises, but end up engaging in importation.
Also, given the strong cabals in the importation of fuel business in this country where trillions of naira are paid as a subsidy, will these individuals not sabotage this new move by the NNPC?