Read how much it takes to fix the refineries in Nigeria
– Dr. Ibe Kachikwu said it will require within $300 million to $500 million to make the refineries function effectively
– He stated that the restructuring of the NNPC will be of advantage to the economy
Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, the minister of state for Petroleum and the Group Managing Director of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said it will take a huge sum of money ranging from $300 million to $500 million for the four refineries in the country to function effectively.
This was made known at the interactive meeting held with the joint House of Representatives Committee on Gas Resources, Petroleum and Local Content which was led by Rep. Victor Nwokolo concerning the recent unbundling of NNPC to more than 25 companies; this inadvertently generated controversies.
He explained that the unbundling was used to qualify the sub sections also known as divisions and not companies as it would have been applicable to the actual unbundling of the Corporation as specified in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
He acknowledged the gap in communication between his office and the National Assembly on the issue of the NNPC unbundling and members’ concerns were actually legitimate. He however, assured them that the restructuring of NNPC will help in obtaining up to 18 month self-sufficiency of the supply of Petroleum products. This new structuring would also help investors establish the modular type refineries as found in the recent advert placed by the corporation.
READ ALSO: Kachikwu speaks about unbundling of NNPC
He stated that when the 650,000 refinery planned by Dangote Group is launched by 2020, it would improve the capacity of domestic refining as the policy is aimed at making the oil marketers invest in the progressing industry.
The Minister further explained that the 17 subsidiaries of NNPC have been pointed out and four more has been created. He also stated that the administrative restructuring would help in creating more jobs, proactive efficiency and profitability of the sub sections of the Corporation like the pipelines and refineries, gas and power and many others.
Dr. Ibe Kachikwu also stated that 70% of the N350 billion loss suffered by the Corporation was from Pipelines and Products Marketing Company Limited (PPMC) and also said plans are being made to adopt Public Private Partnership (PPP) in order to improve the viability of the NNPC subsidiaries which includes the medical centres and shipping company.
The Corporation was on the verge of concluding arrangement with an American company in order to maintain the NNPC medical centres; according to him, the negotiation with the World Largest Shipping Company had gone far. The arrangement was to drive the NNPC shipping company forward which had been established over the past eight years without owing a vessel.
READ ALSO: It was long overdue: Mixed reactions trail unbundling of NNPC
He however, assured that the Corporation has no plan of disengaging the 10,000 workers on its pay roll and stressed that the administrative restructuring would help put the 3,000 superfluous staffs in the efficiency range.
The minister and the lawmakers have agreed to work concomitantly towards the timely passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
Meanwhile, Kachikwu told the Nigerian Senate he was misunderstood on the NNPC unbundling issue.
He said this while meeting with the Senate committee on petroleum upstream at the National Assembly.
Kachikwu said the amount of existing properies in Nigeria is mind blowing and the oil sector is trying to move at a very fast pace.
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