Tinubu: Nigeria’s Refineries Will Return to Full Operation

President Bola Tinubu has assured Nigerians that the country’s refineries will return to operation, saying his administration is committed to fixing the sector and making the facilities economically viable.

The President gave the assurance on Thursday when he received the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Tinubu also expressed concern that the benefits of the Federal Government’s Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) initiative were not reaching commuters as quickly as expected, alleging that truck owners were taking a larger share of the gains.

“Ask your drivers to let the benefits trickle down to commuters too, because whatever benefit is coming from CNG is going into the pockets of truck owners,” he said.

On the refineries, the President said their return to operation would not simply be about producing smoke and flames, but about ensuring that the facilities operate profitably and deliver the value for which they were built.

“The refineries you mentioned are going to come back to work. We’re just building a very firm reset and structural reworking of the economics of it,” Tinubu said.

Advertisement

He said his administration had accepted responsibility for the country’s assets and liabilities and would continue working to deliver a better Nigeria.

Tinubu also defended the removal of fuel subsidy, saying the savings were being redirected into workers’ salaries and major infrastructure projects across the country.

Earlier, NUPENG President, Comrade Salimon Akanni Oladiti, appealed to Tinubu to intervene in the alleged casualisation of workers in the oil industry, particularly in the upstream sector.

Oladiti said repeated efforts by NUPENG and PENGASSAN to persuade some oil companies to end the practice had yielded little result.

He also called for the revival of the Nigerian Pipelines and Storage Company (NPSC) depots across the country, suggesting that they be handed over to private investors under an equity arrangement.

The union leader commended the administration’s rehabilitation and dualisation of federal highways, saying improved roads would make the transportation of petroleum products safer and more efficient.

Advertisement

He also praised ongoing efforts to revive the Warri and Port Harcourt refineries and urged the government to extend the same commitment to the country’s deteriorating petroleum storage infrastructure.