Real Reason FG Struggles To Fix Oil Refineries- NUPENG

An oil and gas expert  has revealed reasons Nigerian government finds it hard to fix the refineries in the country.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Naij.com, Tokunbo Korodo, Chairman, Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG), Lagos Zone, said

some major oil marketers and importers have constituted themselves to a strong cabal that they dictate and influence what goes on in the sector.

For some weeks, Nigeria has been witnessing artificial scarcity of petrol across the country due to the impasse between the federal government and oil marketers over subsidy payment.

Nigerians believe if its government can upgrade the local refineries, it will cushion the effect of the scarcity of the products.

The four major refineries in the country; located in Warri, Kaduna, Port Harcourt are in comatose. They are said to operate at less than 30 per cent capacity.

As a result, Nigeria imports fuel to complement the locally produced products in order to meet the national aggregate demands.

While spirited attempts to fix the refineries over the years have proved abortive, the supply and distribution of petroleum products is majorly at the mercy of major oil marketers in the country.

Explaining the factor behind this, Korodo said some investors who are in the business of exporting crude oil or importing petrol will never allow the product refined locally.

To them, inability to fix the local refineries keeps them in the business of importing fuel.

He laments that lack of political will on the part of the government has also contributed to the menace.

Korodo however, posits that the best remedy to the rottenness in the sector is deregulation. But cautioned must not be import-driven kind of deregulation ‘’ We don’t support deregulation that is import-driven for Nigerians. It will not benefit Nigerians’’ he affirmed.