There's no money to fix refineries - FG
- The minister of petroleum resources has said that Nigeria does not have money to fix its refineries
- Ibe Kachikwu said the modular for the proposed refineries have the capacity to produce between 2,000 and 10,000 capacity of products per refinery
- According to him, Nigeria consumes 630,000 barrel of petroleum products per day
The federal government on Wednesday, March 14, said that there is no money to fix refineries in Nigeria.
FG said it had to raise money through a public private partnership model to fix some of the refineries.
Speaking after the Federal Executive Council meeting with the vice president, the minister of petroleum resources, Ibe Kachikwu, said he had given all the necessary guidance needed to fix the refineries.
READ ALSO: FG speaks about sack of Rex Tillerson after visit to Nigeria
Kachikwu said a technical committee headed by the NNPC will submit their report on tthe refineries.
"As a seasoned professional, I have given all the guidance that is required to fix the refineries. We came into a situation where we don’t have money to fix the refineries. We had to raise the money looking into the PPP model; it has to go through a process.
"The technical committee is headed by the NNPC. Obviously they'll submit their report to the board when they complete their work. So, from a governance and guidance sense, steering point of view, I think that steering is right on track, from a management of the technical aspect of the contracting, that is something we would have to allow NNPC handle, it is not the job of the ministry to superimpose, you’ve got to let them do their work and do it efficiently," Kachikwu said.
READ ALSO: Just in: 8 persons reportedly injured as Boko Haram attack Borno
The minister also said that the proposed modular refineries for Delta and Rivers states were not meant to address the current refining challenge faced by Nigeria. He said the modular are expected to only produce an average 2,000 and 10,000 at most capacity per refinery while the average consumption of fuel by Nigeria stands at 630,000 barrels per day.
“On modular refineries; modular wasn’t supposed to provide a sufficient solution to your product needs, modular are on the average between 2,000 and 5,000 maybe 10,000 at most capacity per refinery.
"Your consumption is about 630,000 barrels per day, that is not the essence of modular, what modular was supposed to do for us is provide work within some of these communities where people are busy doing illegal refining.
PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigeria’s #1 new app
“It’s not meant to address the refining product gap we have in the country, we are hoping that those gaps will be covered by a mixture of the three or four refineries that government owns currently, Warri, Port Harcourt and Kaduna and of course the Dangote refinery of 600 barrels,” Kachikwu said.
Legit.ng earlier reported that Kachikwu said the price of petroleum products were the major problems in the Nigeria oil sector.
The minister said the only mechanism that would address scarcity and lack of queues at the fuel station would be a review in price and not repair or building of new refineries.
He, however, said that it is difficult for people are not willing to make the sacrifices that are essential for these things to happen.
Fuel scarcity: This is getting too much for us - Nigerians lament - on Legit.ng TV
Source: Legit.ng
