Concerned Citizens of Nigeria, a civil society organization, expressed disapproval of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s (NNPCL) declaration on Wednesday that the Port Harcourt Refinery had started up.
The Port Harcourt Refinery has started operating at 70% capacity, according to a Tuesday announcement from the NNPCL.
In addition to congratulating the NNPCL on the accomplishment, President Bola Tinubu gave the corporation instructions to restart the refineries in Warri and Kaduna.
However, the CSO expressed worries about claims that the refinery has been turned into a blending plant during a press briefing on Wednesday in Abuja. Additionally, the CSO claimed that NNPCL intended to sell Nigerians imported, inferior gasoline as locally refined fuel.
Comrade Mahmud Abdul, national coordinator of Concerned Citizens of Nigeria, claimed that the refinery’s start-up announcement was a ploy to mislead Nigerians.
According to the CSO, Nigerians have been forced to deal with high costs and shortages of gasoline as a result of NNPCL’s repeated delays in completing the refinery’s renovations.
The CSO claimed that the NNPCL’s intention to market blended products would negatively affect engine longevity and performance.
Abdul expresses worries over the Port Harcourt Refinery’s alleged restart, “We are worried that NNPCL might have misled the country as it has yet to debunk a report it rather that bought ‘Cracked C5 petroleum resins’ and blended it with other products like Naphtha to sell to the Nigerian public as its own product.
“We invite you to note that this reported commencement of operations comes after shifts in dates on at least seven different occasions. NNPCL’s past ineptitude and unbridled corruption give us concerns that the so-called commencement of operations of the refinery has the markings of a fluke, a ruse designed to make Nigerians stop questioning the eternal deadlines that the organisation set.
“The Corporation has now made a bad situation worse by stage managing a resumption of production since it has now been established that NNPCL is not trucking out Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), better known as petrol, from its Port Harcourt Refinery.
“Instead, some videos of NNPCL branded trucks that were used to announce that the refinery has resumed operations and started trucking out PMS were mere movie productions to mislead Nigerians.
“The Concerned Citizens of Nigeria are aware that the supposed commencement was first flown as a kite by certain media platforms quoting unnamed sources, which was purely a false flag operation to test the response of Nigerians.”
The CSO added that NNPCL’s top management “concluded that there were limited reactions to their flown kite” before Femi Soneye, the company’s chief corporate communications officer, formally addressed the media to announce the refinery’s start of operations.
“Our analysis of this development advised us of two possibilities. The first is that the refinery would be stressed to run for a few weeks before the NNPCL and its Mele Kyari-led management saddle the country with a bill for further repairs. A failure to succumb to this blackmail will result in the facility again becoming moribund.
“A second possibility is that NNPCL has not repaired or restored the Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) Limited to its heydays. This means that the refinery has been technically downgraded and retooled into a blending plant.
“Recall that Nigerians had warned that NNPCL would turn Port Harcourt Refinery into a blending plant. Such concerns were expressed as recently as two months ago in September when some groups faulted the alleged move to convert the Port Harcourt refinery into a blending plant.
“The feeler from this latest development has confirmed that this is exactly what is happening, as petroleum products imported into Nigeria by Kyari would now be sold to Nigerians as locally refined fuel.
“A true test of whether NNPCL will release petrol from the Port Harcourt Refinery into the market would be the pricing. Mele Kyari’s NNPCL plans to sustain the current price band for petrol since that is the only way they can remain profitable from passing off imported substandard petrol as refined in Port Harcourt. ”
The CSO demanded a comprehensive investigation into the alleged restart of the Port Harcourt Refinery in order to correct the record and hold those responsible for any misconduct accountable.
