Buhari, others who killed Nigeria’s refineries are unveiling Dangote’s refinery—Sowore

Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore has accused President Muhammadu Buhari and other top politicians of killing Nigeria’s four Petroleum Refineries, but quickly runs down to Lagos to unveil privately owned Dangote Refinery.

Sowore who is also the publisher of SaharaRepoerters, in a message said, “Buhari and his goons in the oil sector who killed government owned refineries are mobilising to help Dangote open his only refinery.

“President Muhammadu Buhari who was Minister of Petroleum Resources, who could not make four refineries work in eight years will be launching Dangote refinery today.

“Wicked people!” The message exclaimed.

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In 2022, a report on Nigeria’s refinery stated that: “In the face of very poor performance and large overheads, fixing Nigeria’s unprofitable refineries to functional capacity has remained the promise of every administration since 1999 as Abuja intentionally prefers to pile debt rather than embrace global examples on how to run a successful refinery or rein in its appetite for waste that has eaten the country’s national budget for decades.

“A culprit of that inefficient spending is President Muhammadu Buhari. The president preaches prudence in government spending in public, but the expenses he signs off annually tell a different story.

“Under the watch of President Buhari who also doubles as Nigeria’s minister of petroleum, the government maintained Nigeria’s long history of wasteful spending on turnaround maintenance as audited financial statements show that these companies’ did not make a single naira between 2020 and 2021, showing a lack of operational activities.”

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The report added that: “Despite these developments, the Kaduna, Port-Harcourt and Warri refinery companies spent the sum of N127.326 billion on salaries, Wages and Employees benefits between 2020 and 2021, a review of the companies’ audited financial statements has shown.

“A study of the financial reports shows that the Port Harcourt refinery Company spent the sum of N22.547 billion in 2020 and another N32.023 billion in 2021 on Salaries, wages and employee benefits.”

In the case of the Port Harcourt refinery Company, the report stated that, “number of Directors whose emoluments were within 12 million and above numbered four in 2020 and another four in 2021.

“Warri Refinery Company spent N12 billion in 2020 and another N14 billion in 2021, while Kaduna Refinery Company spent N26 billion in 2020 and N20 billion in 2021.