A Lagos based lawyer, Abdul Ganeey Imran has filed a Freedom of Information request to the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited demanding details of
status of the four government owned refineries in Nigeria.
In the FOI request addressed to NNPC Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, requested for confirmation t of the appropriateness or otherwise of the report of the House of Representatives ad Hoc Committee on the state of refineries which alleged that the Federal Government of Nigeria has spent a total sum of N11,350,000.000,000 (Eleven Trillion. three hundred and fifty Billion Naira) on rehabilitations of refineries from 2010 till date.
The request dated September 24, 2024
stated that if the figures being paraded for the rehabilitation of the refineries are not correct, the NNPC should provide the total sum spent as turnaround maintenance on Kaduna refinery between 2010 till date.
The letter is tagged “Freedom of Information request on the status of the four government owned refineries in nigeria viz a viz the recent a hike in the price of Premium Motor Spirits PMS”
The letter also requested for the total sum that was spent as turnaround maintenance on PortHarcourt, and Warri refinery Refineries between 2010 till date.
The letter reads “l am a Legal Practitioner based in Lagos and principal partners of Brown & Cooper Solicitors, The Punch Editorial Published on Tuesday. 3 day of September, 2024 (under the heading “Scarcity: NNPC constitutes economic danger, sell it” ) prompted me to conduct further personal research. In the course of my findings, I deem it necessary to request the following beneath information under the authority granted to me by the Freedom of Information Act, 2011:
“Kindly confirm the appropriateness or otherwise of the report of the House of Representatives ad Hoc Committee on the State of Refineries which alleged that the Federal Government of Nigeria has spent a total sum of N11,350,000.000,000 (Eleven Trillion. three hundred and fifty Billion Naira) on rehabilitations of refineries from 2010 till date.
“If your response to the answer in question No. 1 above is that the figures being paraded or arrived at by the House of Representatives Ad Hoc
Committee on the State of Refineries is not correct, kindly avail us with the correct figure stating:
“The total sum spent as turnaround maintenance on Kaduna refinery between 2010 till date.
“The total sum that was spent as turnaround maintenance on PortHarcourt Refineries in Rivers state between 2010 till date.
“The total sum that was spent as turnaround maintenance on Warri refinery between 2010 till date.
“The annual refined products by each of the refineries in Nigeria from
“If the four refineries in Nigeria are fully functional to the optimum level, what would be the disadvantage of same to the economy. And:
“If your answer to paragraph “E” is in the negative (that is, it is not going to be of any disadvantage), then, why do the four refineries remain moribund despite the trillions of Naira that has been spent on them.
“Sometime in 2021, the erstwhile president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. President Muhammad Buhari borrowed a whopping sum of $1,5 billion dollars. and same was specifically earmarked for the rehabilitations of the Port Harcourt refinery despite serious public outcry that the amount so approved and borrowed for turnaround maintenance of Port Harcourt only was too outrageous when in the same year 2021, Shell’s Martinez Refinery which is of a similar size but more profitable than the Port Harcourt refinery was sold for $1.2billion Dollars in California, United States.
“In reference to this specific sum of $1.5 billion Naira Loan that was solely
processed and obtained for the turnaround of Port Harcourt refinery, I seek to know:
“Which company was the contract for the turnaround maintenance (in respect of which the $1.5 billion dollars loan was obtained) was awarded to.
“What was the total cost of the turnaround maintenance awarded to the said company.
“How much has been disbursed so far to the company?
“What was the original duration for the completion of the turnaround maintenance.
In 2019, the NNPC Managing Director, Mele Kyari assured Nigerians that the NNPC would deliver all the country’s four refineries before the end of former President Muhammed Buhari’s administration.
“Also, in July, 2024, while appearing before the Senate, the same Managing Director of NNPC boasted” I can confirm to you, Mr. Chairman, that by the end of the year, this country will be a net exporter of petroleum products.
“Sir, since December, 2023, the NNPC, which is in charge of all the government refineries, has given Nigerians different dates (with utmost
assurance to the Citizens) that the refinery would resume operation, however, for the sixth or seventh Consecutive times, none of the refineries has commenced operations. | therefore seek to know:
“The reason why the Port Harcourt Refinery in particular and the other
three refineries in general have not commenced operations in spite of these series of assurance and the huge some earmarked.
“Whether the NNPC and indeed the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has moral right to justify the insensitive and callous upward review of the price of PMS to N900 per liter.
“Whether the NNPC has any statutory power to regulate and fix the price of fuel refined by any local private refinery.
The Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission complained in
“June 2023 that the NNPC withheld about N8.48 trillion it claimed as subsidies for petrol since January 1, 2022. (Punch, 3 September, 2024). Furthermore, NEITI, in its 2021 Oil and Gas Industry Report, said the NNPC did not remit $2 billion in taxes to the Federal Government in 2022.
“I seek to know the exactness or otherwise of these weighty allegations levied by separate credible and renowned Federal Government parastatals against the NNPC”.
