Nigeria has refineries in Kaduna, Port Harcourt, and Warri, but they are currently out of operation. Analysts say the Dangote Refinery’s recent opening would revolutionise the industry.
“Have a look at the amount of money the Buhari administration spent to repair the refineries. He spent more money over the course of eight years than Dangote did to establish a refinery, which cost $19 billion.
In an interview with Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Thursday, Sule stated, “It is one and a half times the size of our three refineries combined.”
He blamed Nigeria’s malfunctioning refineries for the subsidy payments.
“I don’t think we did a good job as a government. Crude oil prices decreased by less than $30 when the (previous) President (Buhari) took office in 2015. There was no subsidy back then.
“Now, Dangote consumes 650,000 barrels per day, while our three refineries in Nigeria produce a combined 450,000. He invested $19 billion towards its construction. We invested more than $19 billion on these refineries over the course of eight years, but we still need to create a new one, he claimed.
The largest oil refinery in Africa, the Dangote Refinery, unveiled its construction plans in 2017. Nonetheless, the project was officially launched in May 2023, only a few days before Buhari’s presidency came to an end.
Upkeep of Refinery Components
Governor Sule also bemoaned how difficult it was to maintain the refineries because of their variety of parts.
“The refinery comprises around five or six separate components, including water, crude, and diesel.
“The moment the government announces that we will spend $2 billion on the refinery this year. As far as the President is concerned, the $2 billion has already been spent.
“Now, when it travels to the three refineries that we have in Kaduna, Warri, and Port Harcourt. When they finally take that, it might only be enough to remedy one of the four problematic components, Sule pointed out. “Then they say, you now take $700 million and $800 million.
The Governor argued that the best course of action would have been to award the bulk of the monies to one of the states that refine before distributing the remaining funds to the other states in order to fix it completely.
“Thus, no work is done. These are the actual facts of the situation, which explains why none of the refineries are operating. The fundamental issue is that we need to handle this situation adequately, he remarked.
