Former Vice President and the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party at the 2023 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar, has reacted to reports of plans by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to privatize the recently rehabilitated Port Harcourt refinery.
Naija News had earlier reported that the NNPCL on Monday announced its intention to hand over the operation and maintenance of the Port Harcourt Refining Company to private entities.
The NNPCL, in a statement published on its website on Monday, detailed its search for reputable and credible operations and maintenance companies to take over the refinery’s management.
The selected company will be responsible for various aspects of refinery business processes, including production and operations planning, execution, health and safety management, environmental management, and overseeing minor projects.
However, in a tweet on Tuesday morning, Atiku suggested that it would have been better if the NNPCL had sold the refinery before it was rehabilitated.
Atiku, who had in the past made a case for privatizing the oil sector, tasked the NNPCL to explain to Nigerians the benefits that would be derived from privatizing the refinery.
He wrote, “I have always advocated for far-reaching reforms to reposition Nigeria’s oil sector and, indeed, other sectors of our economy. In particular, I had consistently called on the Buhari administration to break its monopoly in all infrastructure sectors, including the refineries, and give investors, both foreign and domestic, a larger role in funding and management.
“My position has been well laid out in The Atiku Plan (2018) and My Covenant With Nigerians (2022). But our suggestions fell on deaf ears. First, they refused to privatize the refineries. They left them idle for years while paying humongous staff salaries. Then, they contracted a loan of US$1.5 billion for rehabilitation.
“Now, the current administration wants to turn the rehabilitated refinery to private concerns for operation and maintenance!
“Without prejudice to the terms of the agreement between the NNPC and the private operators, it would undoubtedly have been better if the NNPC had sold the refinery, pre-rehabilitation, to avoid the burden of debt.
“The @nnpclimited must explain to the satisfaction of Nigerians what benefits its newly discovered approach to privatisation will confer on Nigeria and Nigerians.”
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