The President, Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Comrade Festus Osifo, has advised the Federal government to focus on completing the Port Harcourt refinery rather than depend on the Dangote refinery.
Osifo gave the advice against the backdrop of the failure of the The 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery to begin production after the August commencement date earlier announced by the President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote.
While delivering his speech at the official unveiling of the refinery by former President Muhammadu Buhari in May, Dangote had said: “Your excellencies, distinguished guests, our first product will be in the market before the end of July or beginning of August this year.”
To date, however, not a single drop of refined petroleum product from the refinery has hit the market weeks after the promised production deadline.
A report quoting a source at the refinery claimed that the management is still unsure when petrol refining would begin at the Ibeju-Lekki facility in Lagos State.
“For now, the management has not come out with any official date,” the report further quoted the source as saying
But Osifo said: “We should rather focus on making other refineries work because it would cut down on freight rates from importation, and would reduce prices. Dangote is a private businessman and can decide tomorrow that he would not refine again, although the government has a 20 per cent stake in the refinery. We should rather push for our own refineries, and ask the government the question such as; when is the Port Harcourt refinery going to start refining petrol?”
Yet the National Controller Operations, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mike Osatuyi, also said there is no cause for alarm as far as petrol supply is concerned, as the NNPCL is still importing.
According to him, management of the Dangote Refinery may have delayed production due to some internal challenges.
He also advised the Federal government to ensure that other local refineries come on stream rather than depend on the Dangote Refinery.