The Nigerian Senate has expressed concerns over the $1.5 billion allocated in 2021 for the turnaround maintenance of the Port Harcourt Refinery, questioning the lack of significant improvements.

Chairman of the Senate Ad Hoc Committee investigating alleged economic sabotage in the Nigerian petroleum industry, Sen. Opeyemi Bamidele, voiced these concerns during an interactive session with stakeholders in Abuja on Wednesday.

Bamidele, who is also the Senate Leader, criticized the treatment of public companies, stating, “It is unfair and wrong to treat public companies shabbily while private businesses are flourishing and thriving.”

He highlighted that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had approved $1.5 billion for rehabilitating and improving the Port Harcourt Refinery. Despite this investment, government-owned refineries remain dysfunctional, he said.

“The federation is undergoing a truly challenging period. The distribution and supply of refined petroleum products has been irregular and problematic in the recent history of our fatherland,” Bamidele remarked. “The long queues at filling stations are obviously a testament to this challenge.”

He expressed concern over Nigeria’s heavy reliance on imported petroleum products, despite the country’s significant crude oil output. “A situation, whereby we now depend almost entirely on the importation of these products even when we daily supply the global oil market about two per cent of its crude oil requirements is worrisome,” Bamidele added.

Bamidele also criticized the importation of hazardous petroleum products and the dumping of substandard diesel into Nigeria. He noted that previous investments in maintaining state-owned refineries in Kaduna, Port Harcourt, and Warri have not yielded the expected results.

“For us in the Senate, we believe, it is unfair and unpatriotic to treat government businesses or public corporations as an orphan while private businesses are flourishing and thriving,” he said.

Sen. Bamidele assured that the National Assembly is committed to conducting a thorough and honorable investigative hearing.

Group Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mr. Mele Kyari, rejected accusations of sabotaging domestic refineries.

“All of us here see what is happening in the media. Targeted personal attack on my person, on the institution. And we all know how this works. They are deliberate, they are calculated,” Kyari stated. “It creates the impression that NNPCL and our leadership are doing anything to create economic sabotage in our country. It is far from it. This company has grown. We are proud to say this. From a lost company for 43 years to a profit-making company today.”

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Heineken Lokpobiri, called for transparency in the investigation. “This Senate should do Nigerians a favour by televising the proceedings of this committee live,” Lokpobiri said. “This will do a whole lot of justice not only to the Senate but we in the Executive and key leaders in the sector.”

He assured that the government is committed to supporting local industries and addressing issues in the oil sector.

“We are committed to supporting Dangote Refinery; we are also supporting modular refineries and we have been resolving whatever issues they had brought to our attention,” he added.

The Chief Strategy Officer at Dangote Industries Ltd., Mr. Aliyu Suleiman, reported that their refinery started full production in March, processing about 50 million barrels of crude and producing five million tons of petroleum products.

In remarks, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, emphasized that increased crude oil production will help stabilize the country’s foreign exchange market.