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The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, stated that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited was responsible for the timely renovation of state-owned refineries. Lokpobiri disclosed this on Friday while responding to questions from State House Correspondents following a three-day cabinet retreat at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja. He outlined the essential role of NNPCL in overhauling three significant refineries, a project pivotal for curtailing fuel scarcity and shifting reliance on natural gas. Despite investing $25bn on fixing the refineries in the past 10 years, the facilities still function below 30 per cent of their potential output, a report by the 9th National Assembly shows. The report called for a forensic audit of those efforts and recommended rehabilitating the Warri and Port Harcourt refineries. It also recommended audits on the Kaduna refinery. Consequently, the Senate constituted an ad-hoc committee to investigate the NNPCL over the N11.35tn spent on the turnaround maintenance of the refineries. The committee was to interrogate the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, NNPCL, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, and the Bureau of Public Enterprises on the best approach to commercialise and ensure the profitability of the state-owned refineries.
Punch