$3bn Refinery Repairs: CSOs Task EFCC On Discreet Probe

Following the arrest of the recently sacked managing directors and some top officials of the Port Harcourt Refining Company, Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company and Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company for alleged $3bn refinery fraud, some civil society organisations and stakeholders have called for a thorough investigation into the allegations.

The Anti-corruption Network International welcomed the arrest and urged the EFCC to go beyond arrest and ensure thorough prosecution of the cases against all indicated persons.

The convener of the group, Iyke Mbanefo said the alleged tracing of N80 billion in the account of one of the sacked managing director is an indication that a lot of corrupt activities have been going on there and needs to be handled thoroughly.

Another group, the Network Against Corruption and Trafficking (NACAT), expressed doubts if the EFCC can handle such corrupt cases as they have shown that they only arrest without proper prosecution.
NACAT’s executive director, investigation, Fejiro Oliver Tega Oghenedoro told LEADERSHIP Sunday that EFCC needs to do more to prove to Nigerians that they can actually prosecute high profile cases.

He said, “We view the current probe of the immediate past GCEO of NNPCL, the MDs and directors as shadow chasing by the EFCC. All the EFCC is after is to grab headlines in order for more budgetary allocations and not because they have anything substantial on the GCEO, Mele Kyari. Where was EFCC when money was paid for the rehabilitation of the refineries? Why didn’t they monitor the monies then and raise query on it? Now that Kyari is out of power, they are looking for ways to milk him of his little savings as they are now used to. All Kyari needs to do is to declare for APC as well as the MDs and the case will be forgotten, even when NACAT believes there’s no case to answer in the first place.

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“As Nigeria’s currently most influential NGO who have successfully got petitions against two former governors namely Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom and Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State before the EFCC and after inviting them, nothing has been said about it again. Until the EFCC charges Okowa and Udom to court, we will view every of their actions against any public officer as ambulance chasing and shouldn’t be taken serious by Nigerians.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had arrested the officials over alleged mismanagement of funds earmarked for the rehabilitation of the facilities. The total amount under investigation is $2,956,872,622.36.

The EFCC is probing the sum of $1,559,239,084.36 allocated to the Port Harcourt refinery, $740,669,600 released for the Kaduna refinery, and $656,963,938 approved for the Warri refinery.

The ex-managing director of Port Harcourt Refining Company Ltd is Mr Ibrahim Onoja, while Efifia Chu served as the ex-Managing Director of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company Ltd.
Just recently, an energy expert, Kelvin Emmanuel, said the Warri, Port Harcourt, and Kaduna refineries were never truly set to resume operations.

Speaking on Arise News, Emmanuel described the televised commissioning as a “charade,” accusing the government of staging the event to mislead the public.

He said, “For months, I had said that Warri, Port-Harcourt, and Kaduna were never going to come back into operation and that what Nigerians saw on television as the commissioning was just a charade.

“On August 12, 2021, the Federal Executive Council approved memos for monies worth $2.96bn to be raised for the turnaround maintenance of the three refineries.

“This money can build a brand new 60,000-barrel refinery. The last of these refineries was completed in 1989 by Shell. So these refineries were built as very sizable modular refineries to power the operations of operators off-stream.

“So they were not built to refine. The PHRC and WRPC don’t have a catalytic reform unit that can convert Naphtha to PMS.

“The 46km pipeline that was designed to supply feedstock from Escravos to Warri is out of service. So, how are you carrying crude oil to the refinery?

“One of the proofs that the NNPCL was deceiving Nigerians that it was refining is that most of our products are supplied from Lagos.

“We have a situation where $2.96bn was approved by the FEC, but there is nothing to show for it. So, if you claim that your refineries are operational, it is supposed to deliver up to 7 million litres. If you check the balance sheet of the company, the refineries are a loss-making business.”