Despite the strong promises by the Bola Tinubu administration – that the nation’s refineries would begin operations before the end of December 2023 – it seems that Nigerians still have to endure a long wait to witness the fulfillment of those promises.
The timeline came and went and not a drop of crude was refined at the two designated refineries, the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC) and Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC).
As a result of this failure to meet the much-advertised deadline, both the minister of state for petroleum (oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, and the group chief executive officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, are said to be under pressure from the Presidency.
The Presidency was said to be furious that Lokpobiri and Kyari could not keep their word that the two refining petrochemical plants would resume full production of petroleum products, especially petrol, by December 2023.
LEADERSHIP Friday learnt that the Presidency felt embarrassed that it could not keep its promise to Nigerians that local refining of petroleum products by the two plants would commence by the last quarter of 2023.
This newspaper learnt that the unanticipated development has caused great discomfort and annoyance in the Presidency.
LEADERSHIP Friday recalls that President Bola Tinubu had at different fora personally assured Nigerians that WRPC and PHRC would be back on stream by December last year, apparently on the strength of the assurances given to him by the duo of Lokpobiri and Kyari, who are the main drivers of the quick-fix initiatives to bring the plants back to life.
Specifically, the December deadline for the local refineries to resume operations was one of the promises made by Tinubu after he automatically cancelled the oil subsidy regime in his inaugural speech on May 29, 2023, resulting in an astronomical spike in the price of petrol.
There was unanimity of opinions that local refining of petroleum products would help to reduce and stabilise the price of petrol and shield consumers from the fluctuations and vagaries of international oil marketers.
The two strategic business units of the NNPCL are expected to kick-start operations by locally refining 160,000 barrels of crude oil per day, with WRPC refining 100,000bpd and PHRC 60,000bpd.
The price of PMS jumped over three-fold from N194 per litre to over N600 per litre, with concomitant hyperinflation and hardships among the teeming masses, in the wake of the presidential declaration.
Informed sources within the Presidency revealed that Tinubu was hugely embarrassed by the failure of the ministry and NNPCL to deliver.
The Presidency felt that Tinubu was portrayed by the ministry of petroleum resources and NNPCL as having lied to Nigerians.
Lokpobiri and Kyari were reported to have been summoned to the Presidency on the orders of President Tinubu on a few occasions in the weeks preceding the expiration of the deadline in December 2023.
The Presidency demanded an explanation from the duo.
LEADERSHIP Friday gathered that the duo informed the Presidency that the two plants would not be ready to commence full operations by December 2023.
Further enquiries by this newspaper revealed that the heat generated on Lokpobiri and Kyari by the Presidency led to the hurriedly packaged December 21 mechanical commissioning of the Phase 5 of the PHRC.
A source at NNPCL hinted that the December 21, 2023 event in the premises of the PHRC was deceitful and apparently a smokescreen to keep the hopes of Nigerians alive.
“The plant is not ready yet. The board and management of NNPCL are just buying time and deceiving Nigerians.
“If they are sure of their claims, let the plant churn out all categories of petroleum products, especially petrol, in earnest,” he said.
Also, a contractor handling one of the units at the WRPC emphatically stated that the rehabilitation works are not near completion.
The source alluded to poor funding, non-availability of vital Long Lead Items (LLI) required for some major units and apparent difficulty by the main contractor, Daewoo Nigeria Limited, a Korean firm, in managing and delivering a processing contract, as parts of the challenges inhibiting early completion of the jobs.
“There is no way the ministry of petroleum and NNPCL can talk about the start-up of WRPC now unless they want to come and do a kangaroo commissioning to deceive Nigerians the way they did in the case of PHRC. The situation in WRPC is even more worrisome because money is not provided by the federal government for the exercise.
“The contractor, a Korean firm, Daewoo Nigeria Ltd, which was asked to fund the rehabilitation works, is not forthcoming with the much needed funds and this development has affected the morale and enthusiasm of the contractors to deliver on schedules. The bills for completed milestones are accumulated and not attended to by Daewoo. Most times, the contractors are not on site because of lack of funds to perform. The contractors are not enthusiastically committed to deliver.
“As I am talking to you now, the most vital LLI to use in some of the major units is still being awaited from abroad. They are not available in the country yet. The sub-contractors are united in their opinions that Daewoo Nigeria Limited, notable in construction works, is finding it difficult to manage and deliver a processing contract. We are not sure that Daewoo as a Korean construction giant has been involved in processing contracts such as the one under review in WRPC.
“These challenges and other hiccups made it difficult for the December 2023 deadline to be met. The sub-contractors are not sure that the job can be completed anytime soon unless there is a miracle somewhere,” the source, who pleaded not to be named, said.
To this end, tension has gripped the two plants.
The managing director of WRPC, Mr. Chu Efifia and his PHRC counterpart, Engineer Ibrahim Onoja, are said to be unsure of their fate in the unfolding circumstances.
Lokpobiri, during a scheduled inspection of WRPC in October 2023, threatened that the duo would be held responsible for the failure to meet the deadline.
“There are palpable tension and fears in WRPC and PHRC over the failure to meet the deadline. The MDs in particular are jittery. They are not sure if they can keep their job. But we don’t know why the authorities in the ministry and NNPCL are turning the heat on the officials of the plants.
“The failure to meet the deadline is not in any way due to the actions and inactions, and possibly the laxity on the side of the officials of the plants. The authorities in the ministry and NNPCL know what the problems are and they are in the position to do the needful instead of this needless and unwarranted transfer of aggression,” an official of one of the subcontractors, who pleaded anonymity, said in an interview with our correspondent.
Lokpobiri, chairman of Daewooo Nigeria Limited, Chief Joseph Penawoe, and group general manager, group public affairs, NNPCL, Garbadeen Muhammad, rebuffed weeks of frantic efforts by our correspondent to secure their reactions to the report.
Our correspondent was on the trail of the trio with telephone calls and text messages in the past weeks, to no avail.
Efforts to get the minister of state (oil) to provide an update on whether the Port Harcourt Refinery had begun operation as promised were unsuccessful, and his special adviser, media, and communication, Nnaemaka Okafor, was not forthcoming with a response by press time.
Lokpobiri had said that refining operations would begin at the Port Harcourt Refinery after Christmas.
