NNPCL Should Explain Its Privatisation Of PH Refinery After Rehabilitation With $1.5Bn Loan – Atiku Says
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) owes Nigerians a satisfactory explanation of the benefits its newly discovered approach to privatisation will confer on Nigeria and its citizens.
This was as he said that it would undoubtedly have been better if the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), had sold the Port Harcourt refinery before its rehabilitation, to avoid the burden of debt.
Atiku, who stated this against the backdrop of the plan by the Federal Government to turn the rehabilitated refinery to private concerns for operation and maintenance, said that it does make sense to turn the refinery to private concerns after having contracted a loan of US$1.5 billion for rehabilitation.
Atiku wrote on his verified X handle (former Twitter), that he had always advocated for far-reaching reforms to reposition Nigeria’s oil sector and, indeed, other sectors of the nation’s economy.
He said that in particular, he 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.
In the words of Atiku, “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,” he said.
