The
Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has
warned the Federal Government against the full concession or plans to privatise
th
e nation’s refineries.
There have
been speculations that the federal government plans to sell or privatise some
refineries in the country, especially the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries.
However, the
Group Executive Chairman, NNPC Branch of PENGASSAN, Mr. Abdullahi Sale, while
speaking on Tuesday, shortly after a tour of the Port Harcourt Refinery, said
it would be wrong for any government to hand over its energy for privatisation.
He pointed
out that government could decide to hold 20 per cent equity, adding that such
action had to be gradual.
Sale further
insisted that like security, the energy sector should not be fully privatised.
His words:
“We are not averse to concessioning or privatisation of the refineries;
however, what we are saying is that no nation would like to toy with its issue
of energy.
“Our
position is that we don’t want a situation where 100 per cent of our energy
sector is given to private hands. We want to maintain some level of security.
Because energy is security, just like we cannot hand over our security 100 per
cent to private hands, we also should not totally privatise our energy.
“We are not
supporting the sale of the refineries in totality, however, the PIGB being
passed in the Senate has provided room for 20 per cent of government equity to
be in the hands of the BPE. That means that eventually 20 per cent would go
off.”
On the
proposed operation of modular refineries in the country, Sale noted that such
refineries would not be able to meet the 40 million litres per day demand of
Nigerians.
He added:
“Our national demand on a daily basis is within the range of 40 million litres,
which modular refineries cannot provide. However, it will be able to provide us
some level of sufficiency, but not up to what we desire.
“Modular
refineries are quick ways to get products available to Nigerians, but in the
real sense, they are not the final solutions because they are not going to take
us to where we want to be.”
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