A Nigerian Lawyer and Energy Consultant, Liborous Oshoma has alleged that the NNPC primary focus should be on revitalizing existing refineries rather than considering the purchase of the Dangote refinery. He noted that previous claims about the operational status of these refineries, such as the 60,000 barrel Port Harcourt facility, have proven misleading.
He stated that although the NNPC announced readiness, they merely initiated basic preparations without addressing core mechanical issues. He urged the government to prioritize upgrading its refineries to full operational capacity rather than contemplating external solutions. This inward-focused approach, he argued, would secure Nigeria’s energy independence and prevent the centralization of control in the hands of any single entity.
He said in an interview with TVC, ”If our refineries were up and grinding, then you wouldn’t have this back and forth with the NNPC or the NMPDRA claiming that Dangote wants all Diesel importers to come through him. If you have the 60,000 barrel refinery in Port Harcourt working and the Warri 120,000 barrel refinery working. And then the Kaduna Refinery working and all your pipelines are up-to-date and they are not corroded, then you won’t have these challenges. There won’t be any need for anybody to import diesel in the first place.
What we need to do first and foremost is not even to buy Dangote refinery, it is to look inwardly and look into our refineries and put them up to date. The last time I did complained about the workability of our 60,000 barrel Refinery that NNPC said was going to ask work in December. And from the information that I gathered, the NNPC only flared the Port Harcourt refinery with RPG (Refined Petroleum Gas) and the mechanical components are still not up to date. So they can’t buy Dangote Refinery and that discussion shouldn’t even come in.”….Seë_Morë