The Minister of State for Petroleum and Resources, Timipre Sylva, has revealed why President Muhammadu Buhari approved the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery and why he wants it to function before leaving office.
The Minister explained how the Apc administration intends to leave a functional refinery as a landmark achievement during the Buhari eight years regime.
The minister made this disclosure on Sunday while speaking on Channels Television program, Sunday’s Politics.
The minister while speaking said the Buhari administration has focused on the rehabilitation that the FEC had approved.
He said the next stage is the discussion on the management of the refinery, adding that, the discussion will determine how long the contract for the operations and maintenance will last, depending on the modus of operation agreed, if it is to be by privatization, commercialization, or by concession. Stating that, there are a lot of options open for the government as he can’t discuss that now.
The minister also said, they are not lying to Nigerians, according to him, the process of the rehabilitation of the refinery will be in three phases, the first phase will be within the tenure of his administration, he asked Nigerians to hold them accountable if the rehabilitation does not get to 90 percent capacity within 18 months.
He said President Muhammadu Buhari wants to leave a functional refinery as a legacy. While maintaining that, that refinery will later be decided by Nigerians and by a future administration. He said these are what they are working towards in the next few months.
Recall last week, how the plan by the Minister of Petroleum Resources was approved and how $1.5bn was also approved by the Federal Executive Council for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery.
However, there had been a lot of criticism by many Nigerians on the Federal Government’s plans to spend $1.5bn on the facilities which the minister had also directed Nigerians to hold the All Progressive Congress administration responsible for the rehabilitation of the Refinery.
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