Fuel Scarcity: Where Are The Refineries Buhari Promised?

By Erasmus Ikhide

Three critical years of his mandatory four years in office have been wasted on revitalizing his troubled health. He has been chasing supposedly corrupt imaginary political enemies without actual prosecution, while his favored kitchen cabinet members like Abba Kyari, the Chief of Staff and Maikanti Baru, Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) have been massing up billions of dollars for his reelection in 2019.

President Buhari’s democratic governance style has shown that a new type of military tyranny which does not require physical strength or its actual presence to secure its callous suzerainty is blooming at full mast all over Nigeria.

Nearly two decades after the military were literarily and shamefacedly chased to the barracks, democratically elected Presidents have become so clueless and adamant like a rogue tyrant superintending over the gloom and despondency of the suffering masses of Nigeria.

There is no retelling that under President Buhari government the youths and hopeless vagrants are fleeing from the hell-hole of a nation called Nigeria because the country has failed them.

They have been ravaged by hunger, want, disease and incredible mismanagement of human and natural resources to the extent that Nigerians are treated as sub-human worldwide. It’s heartbroken that a minority power elite and ethnic hegemonists have turned life into hell for their own people.

It’s truly debasing that Nigeria cannot put its house in order through internal reforms and political reconfiguration that accelerate social justice, democratic parity and economic empowerment of the citizenry.

Mr. Buhari in 2015, promised to revive and reactivate our minimally performing Refineries to optimal capacity. He made further promise to ensure that the oil industry becomes one of the world leading/cutting edge centers for clean oil and gas technology by producing leading world Oil and Gas technologist, scientists, and owning mega structure installations, drilling, processing, and production facilities and engineers. He promised that these facilities and scientists would be supported with the best services and research facilities.

Buhari promised to fully develop the sector’s capacity to absorb more of the nation’s new graduates in the labor market. He told us that the sector would be funded to produce more home-grown, but world class engineers, scientists, technologist, etc.

He pledged to modernize the NNPC and make it the national energy champion. Buhari vowed to break it up into more efficient, commercially driven units and strip it of its regulatory powers, so as to enable it tap into international capital market.

Mr. Buhari promised to enforce the government’s master plan for oil companies to end flaring that pollutes the air and damages the communities and people’s health and ensure that they sell at least half of their gas produced within Nigeria.

He advocated speedy passage of the much-delayed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) to ensure that local content issues are fully addressed. He vowed to make Nigeria the world’s leading exporter of Liquefied Natural Gas through the creation of strategic partnerships.

Lastly, he promised to stabilize oil price. Nigerians are left to judge whether he has fulfilled his promises above or below 0.5% for which more than 20% of Nigerians elected him. Nigeria’s oil industry has been orphaned from birth without conscious efforts at meeting the basic petroleum needs of the people.

Nigeria’s first Refinery, Port Harcourt Refinery, located at Alesa Eleme, was built by Shell Petroleum and British Petroleum between 1963 and 1965. The company operates two oil refineries including an old plant commissioned in 1965 that can process 60,000 barrels of oil per stream daily and the new plant commissioned in 1989, which has a capacity of 150,000 barrels daily.

The Warri Refinery was awarded by Yakubu Gowon to Snamprogetti Spa Milan, Italy in 1975 at the cost of $478 million and commenced operation in 1978. It had the design capacity of 100,000 barrel daily.

The Kaduna Refinery was awarded by Murtala Mohammed in 1976 and was built by Chiyoda Engineering and Construction Company – a Japanese firm, at the cost of $525 million and was completed by Obasanjo in 1979.

It had two refining streams (50,000 b/d fuels units) and (50,000 b/d lubes, waxes Asphalt plants). Port Harcourt 11 Refinery had an installed capacity of 150,000 b/d and both Warri and Kaduna refineries had the capacity of 125,000b/d and 110,000b/d with the previous ones making a total capacity of 445,000b/d as at 1989.

On August 27, 2015 President Buhari approved 65 licenses for the establishment of private refineries. That is in addition to the 18 licenses former President Goodluck Jonathan approved sometime in 2013. Till date, only Dangote’s, and Eko Petrochem and Refining Company Limited owned by Captain Emmanuel Ihenacho have shown seriousness in building refineries in the nearest further.

You may wish to ask, what with a country as the sixth largest crude oil deposit, yet unable to establish ordinary refineries to refine crude oil to meet the daily needs of its people? How long shall we continue to export our crude oil to be refined abroad and imported back?

What of the capital, job and technical flights and other associated benefits with the refining country? How does Buhari and his minders justify the fact that Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) is sold at N500 naira to Nigerians as the sixth largest producer of crude oil?

Why did Buhari government fail to fulfill his electoral promise to Nigerians? What sin did Nigerians commit against God and their leaders that attract such inhuman punishment to them? Why issue licenses to phony companies without basic requirements to set up refineries?

We must resolve the question as to why we are fated for this backward slide in all index of human regression. If African countries are refining to meet their needs through the regular and modular refinery models, such as Senegal with $1,019 Per capita and a population of less than 16 million people runs modular refinery with a 27,000bpd capacity, Cameroon runs one with 42,600bpd; Congo, 21,000bpd; Niger Republic, 20,000bpd; Chad, 20,000bpd; Zambia, 34,000bpd, and Gabon, 25,000bpd, Algeria 499,000 bpd, Libya, South Africa and Egypt also do same with 626,500bpd and 1,102,550bpd, respectively why would Nigerian oil industry remain a basket case?

Nigerian government should seek for help since it’s bereaved of ideas on how to run its affairs — for recording more failures in all its policy formulation — and deliberate devilry.

Buhari’s government should know that these mini-refineries will not only reduce or even eliminate Nigeria’s dependency on imported products, subsidy and traffic congestion, but will also revive the local economy, the roads will last longer and safer, as much as return Nigeria to exporting refined petroleum products.

While the Buhari government continues on policies that have imposed untold hardship on the people with an unimaginable poverty, and with the once vibrant oil unions badly and corruptly compromised, Nigerians should be consoled by their civic power to visit their vengeance on failed elected officials at the poll.

It’s only then we can truly be said to have come of age. It’s only then Nigerians can pay back wicked leaders who are victims of their own blindness and banal sectionalism. It’s only then Nigerians can proceed to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Erasmus, a Public Affairs Analyst writes from Lagos. Email: ikhideerasmus@gmail.com I invite you to follow me on Twitter @ikhide_erasmus1