$1.5bn on renovation of Port Harcourt Refinery satanic, says Melaye

A former federal lawmaker and Peoples Democratic Party chieftain, Senator Dino Melaye has described as satanic the decision of the federal government to spend $1.5bn on the renovation of the Port Harcourt Refinery.

Recall that the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, on Thursday disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the $1.5 billion for the rehabilitation of the refinery, which will be done in three phases of 18, 24 and 44 months.

Sylva said the contract for the rehabilitation of the refinery was awarded to an Italian company, Tecnimont spa, which is an expert in refinery maintenance, while the funding will be sourced from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), budgetary allocations provisions and Afreximbank.

However, reacting in a viral video, Senator Melaye said that the government wanted to spend over N700bn on a dead and moribund refinery.

“Are you using the over N700bn or $1.5bn for the embalmment of the dead Port Harcourt refinery because this money is going to be spent for the embalmment of the dead refinery.

“When will this stealing stop in this country. When will this inconsiderate corruption stop in this country? As an anti-corruption network and as a patriotic citizen of this country, we call on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately reverse this satanic nefarious decision.

“And those who want to eat and benefit from this stealing, we’re waiting and watching. We have no other country to call our own, we will not keep quiet in the midst of this corruption. We have never had it so bad in this country.

“You want to use over N700bn for the embalmment of a dead body, a dead refinery all because you want to appropriate our common matrimony to some few individuals. God save the federal republic of Nigeria, and in an unjust society, silent is a crime,” he added.