By Dele Ade
Founder of Stanbic IBTC and Anap Foundation, Peterside Atedo on Sunday said plans by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to spend $1.5bn on repair of Port Harcourt refinery will lead to a financial mess.
He said the refinery in Rivers state generated no revenue in 2019 but incurred processing and administrative costs of N47 billion during the same period insisting that it was advisable the refinery is sold to qualified investors.
In a tweet on Sunday, he accused NNPC of attempting to plunge Nigeria into a financial mess with the proposed repair.
He tweeted: “In 2019, PH Refinery contributed zero revenue, but incurred costs of N47bn; almost N4bn a month!
“Instead of ending this nightmare through a #BPE core investor sale, NNPC wants to enmesh Nigeria into a deeper financial mess by throwing $1.5bn (incl. debt) at a problem it created?”
It is recalled that on March 17, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved $1.5bn for rehabilitation of the refinery.
Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, said the rehabilitation will be done in three phases of 18, 24 and 44 months. He added that the contract will be awarded to Tecnimont SPA, an Italian company.