Olusegun Obasanjo 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 he attempted to restart Nigeria’s oil refineries but failed, 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, first as a military dictator from 1976 to 1979 and then as a democratically elected leader from 1999 to 2007.
“I heard that Tinubu promised that refineries would be operational by December. I informed them that the refineries would not operate. This is based on data that Shell provided to me while I was in office, Obasanjo said.
Obasanjo is not an engineer or expert in these fields, according to the presidency, so he is not in a position 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 on Media and Publicity.
Obasanjo should wait until December to see what happens, according to Ajayi, because Tinubu based his statement about the refineries on an engineer’s projection.
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“With all due respect, former President Olusegun Obasanjo is not an engineer. The engineer employed by the refineries is not him.
Speaking on the Daily Trust platform with the theme: “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.”
“There are still about four months left. With all due respect to the former president, who is a wise elder and our father, I will say that his views and opinions are solely his own.
“I’d prefer to trust the engineering staff at the refinery’s judgment. So, 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 completed, 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’s reliance on oil imports and reliance on foreign refineries will decrease.
The refineries, which produced little to no fuel over the previous ten years and were completely shut down in 2021, are currently being renovated, according to NNPCL.
