NNPCL refinery: Explain to Nigerians how $3b was spent in 2024

Arise Television anchor, Rufai Oseni has called on President Bola Tinubu to explain to Nigerians how $3 billion was spent on the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, refinery in Port Harcourt.

Speaking during Arise Television’s Morning Show on Friday, Rufai criticised the Nigerian government regarding the ‘inconsistent’ claims surrounding the refinery’s revitalisation.

He highlighted a contradiction where President Tinubu congratulated the NNPCL on the refinery’s successful operation in 2024, but now claiming that it would work again.

Rufai questioned the effectiveness of the $3 billion spent on the turnaround maintenance, suggesting that the money may have been wasted or mismanaged.

He demanded transparency and a full accounting of how the $3 billion was utilised.

His remarks stemmed from the statement of the President during a meeting with the leadership of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, where he said the NNPC refinery will come back to work.

“I don’t want to be dramatic, but Nigeria will make you mad as a human being. If you try to see what the government does in this country, you will go mad.

“As of the 26th of September 2024, president Tinubu congratulated the NNPC on the successful revitalisation of the Port Harcourt refinery.

“Today the president is saying the same refinery that he extended his congratulations on, will work again. So it didn’t work when he extended his congratulations? You see, they have made this country a joke.

“President Tinubu, as the father of the nation, before anything, we must know how that $3 billion was spent.

“After you spent $3 billion on the turnaround maintenance for a refinery, you said it worked in 2024, Today you are saying it will work again? No.” Rufai said.