Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president of Nigeria, has been informed by the presidency that he will not be the one to decide whether or not Nigeria’s oil refineries will operate.
The former leader claimed that he attempted to restart Nigeria’s oil refineries but was unsuccessful, and he implied that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s plan to do the same will fail.
Obasanjo revealed in an exclusive interview with TheCable that he served as president of Nigeria twice, once as a military dictator from 1976 to 1979 and again from 1999 to 2007.
“Someone told me Tinubu said refineries would be operational by December. I informed the person that the refineries would not operate. This is based on information I got from Shell when I was president,” Obasanjo said.
The presidency countered that because Obasanjo is neither an engineer nor a specialist in such fields, he is not qualified to make decisions about Nigeria’s oil refineries.
Obasanjo’s comments are solely his personal opinion, according to Tope Ajayi, President Tinubu’s Senior Special Assistant for Media and Publicity.
Obasanjo should wait until December to see what transpires, according to Ajayi, because Tinubu based his statement about the refineries on an engineer’s projection.
“With all due respect, Olusegun Obasanjo is not an engineer. He is not the engineer employed by the refineries.
Speaking on the Daily Trust space with the title “Analyzing the First 100 Days of President Tinubu,” Ajayi said, “So, the engineers and the NNPC gave the president a report and they have said that it will work by December this year.”
“We still have about four months left. With all due respect to the former president, who is an elder statesman and our father, I will say that what he said was his personal opinion and viewpoint.
“Instead, I’ll trust the refinery’s engineers’ expertise. Therefore, I believe that we should hold off until December.
After the ongoing rehabilitation contract between the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and Italian company, Maire Tecnimont SpA, is finished, President Tinubu had stated in August that the petroleum refinery in Port Harcourt will begin production by December 2023.
If the refinery is revived as promised by Tinubu, Nigeria will depend less on foreign refineries and less on importing oil.
The refineries, which were completely shut down in 2021 and produced little to no fuel for the previous ten years, are being modernized, according to NNPCL.
