The Minister of state for petroleum, Timipre Sylva, has said Nigerians can hold him and the Federal Government accountable for every dollar and cent to be spent on the rehabilitation of the refineries in the country.   

He said this on Sunday during a programme on Channels Television.

The minister disclosed that Buhari’s administration means well for Nigerians, and it will leave behind a legacy of functional refineries for the country.

 Recall that Nigeria has four refineries: two in Port Harcourt and one each in Kaduna and Warri, with a combined capacity of 445,000 barrels per day.

 All four refineries are non-functional, after being shut down in 2020.

On Wednesday, the Federal executive Council (FEC) meeting approved $1.5 billion for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery.

Sylva in his remarks stated that “Nigerians can hold me accountable and hold this government accountable for every dollar, every cent on this refinery and ensure that we deliver a refinery that works.”

“What President Muhammadu Buhari wants to leave as a legacy are refineries that are functional.

“That is really where we are looking at because what is going to happen to those refineries will be decided by Nigerians and future administration.”

The Minister also disclosed that the rehabilitation will take 18 months and the first phase will get the refinery to 90 percent operational capacity.

 “We’re not lying to Nigerians. We’ve told you that this is going to be in three phases and the first phase is definitely going to be within the tenure of this administration.”

“You should hold us. It is 18 months and we are going to take the refinery to 90 percent of its main capacity and that is what you should hold us to,” he said.

“Let me tell you how this rehabilitation is going to be funded; it is not going to be all debts, we are not going to borrow all the monies that are going into the rehabilitation.

“NNPC is going to spend about $200 million from its internally generated revenue sources, while the federal appropriation will put in about $800 million and it is already broken down into three parts.

“The 2020 appropriation will give $350 million, 2021 appropriation will give another $350 million, and 2022 appropriation will give another $100 million, making it all $800 million from appropriation, and then the rest of it will now come from Afrexim Bank,” the Minister gave a breakdown of how the government intends to source the $1.5 billion required to repair the refinery.

Sylva further noted that the fixing of the refinery is “one way the government can generate revenue to invest in other sectors of the economy.

“This rehabilitation will bring a lot of gains for Nigerians. First, we are gaining from savings in the foreign exchange end, savings from importation of premium motor spirit (PMS); and we will gain from the operations of the refineries itself.

“This refinery plus Dangote’s refinery, Kaduna refinery and Warri refinery will more than satisfy Nigeria’s requirements.”

“We are headed to a point where Nigeria will become a net exporter of refined petroleum products. So we will be able to satisfy Nigerians and also have excess in exporting these products.”