FG PLANS TO SELL OFF THREE REFINERIES: KACHIKWU

MUHAMMADU BUHARI

RECESSION?? NIGERIAN GOVT SET TO REHABILITATE AMD SELL OFF THREE REFINERIES

Nigeria’s junior Minister for Petroleum Resources (State), Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has revealed the intention of the Federal government to sell three refineries in the country after they have been fixed and deemed operationally efficient.

The proposed refineries, according to Kachikwu, are those located in Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt.

Speaking to State House Correspondents in Abuja, Kachikwu stated that; “the feeling of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and the President is that we should first get the refineries to be efficient before we talk about privatization, otherwise we will be selling scraps. In their present state nobody is going to offer you serious money. A huge amount of investment is going into this".

The junior Petroleum Minister also stated that the Nigerian government would get more investors into the sector so as to enhance its smooth running.

He disclosed that the government is looking for more means to getting the refineries back to full productivity.

“We have got to take the realities on ground. The decision therefore was to find investors who are willing, almost on a loan structure basis to put money, put the technical skills, work with our people who are there; and we have very many skilled people, but let us face it. The fact that they are working today is because they are local people, they are local engineers who are able to resuscitate them. There is a capacity efficiency that we are not just tapping into now”.