Data from the Nigerian National Petroleum Commission, NNPC, suggest that Nigeria is losing billions of naira on a monthly basis, due to the inability of the country’s refineries to function optimally.
According to the NNPC, its revenue had decreased from N520.4 billion in April 2018 to N292.3 in November 2018, leading to the loss of N228.1 billion within the period under consideration.
The development, therefore, marked a reversal of growth pattern recorded earlier in 2018 when the NNPC’s revenue N323.19bn recorded in January to N520.4bn in April.
According to investigation, Nigeria’s four refineries are at the moment working below capacity, resulting in a decline in NNPC’s revenue.
For instance, the Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company did not refine a drop of crude oil in early 2018 and indeed throughout much of 2018.
In the same vein, neither of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company and the Port Harcourt Refining Company were stable in their production capacities during the period.
Another negative implication of the inability of local refineries to perform is that the country will continually depend on the importation of petroleum products to meet demand. This is a disgraceful thing for Nigeria, which produces a considerable volume of the global crude output.
More so, the importation of refined petroleum products is a costly alternative, seeing as the Government has been projected N39.9 billion monthly in fuel subsidy fees.
There is hope, however, that someday soon Nigeria’s fuel importation crisis will come to an end. This is because Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, is putting finishing touches to what will arguably become one of the biggest refineries in Africa and the world.