Stop wasting money on non-profitable refinery, Peterside urges FG

The founder of Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Atedo Peterside has advised the federal government not to waste Nigeria’s scarce resources on a non-profitable venture.

Peterside gave the advice on social media while reacting to the proposed $1.5bn approval for the repair of the Port Harcourt refinery.

It would be recalled that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the sum of $1.5 billion for the immediate rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery in Rivers State.

Reacting to the decision, Peterside urged the federal government to instead sell the Port Harcourt refinery to core investors as a $1.5 billion rehabilitation budget should be subject to an informed national debate.

He said, “FG should halt $1.5bn approval for repair of Port Harcourt refinery and subject this brazen & expensive adventure to an informed national debate.  Many experts prefer that this refinery is sold ‘as is’ by BPE to core-investors with proven capacity to repair it with their own funds,” he said.

Several Nigerians have at different times called on the FG to privatise the refineries and avoid years of losses from them, but the management of the NNPC has continued to insist it will rehabilitate them and continue to own them.

Recall that a report by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in 2020 had stated that Nigeria’s three refineries still cost the country N10.23 billion in expenses.

The NNPC disclosed in the report that the three refineries, located in Warri, Port-Harcourt and Kaduna, processed no crude because of the rehabilitation works being carried out on them.

The Port-Harcourt Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited (PHRC) has the capacity of producing 210,000 barrels per day, Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited (KRPC) can produce 110,000 barrels per day while the Warri Refining Petrochemical Company Limited (WRPC) has a 125, 000 barrels per day production capacity.

There are currently five (5) refineries in Nigeria; of which four (4) plants are owned by the Nigerian Government through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), while the fifth is owned and operated by Niger Delta Petroleum Resources (NDPR).