Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Energy, Olu Verheijen, has said the Federal Government is open to the sale of the country’s refineries located in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna.
Verheijen spoke on Tuesday, in an interview with Bloomberg TV on the sidelines of the ADIPEC Energy Conference in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The presidential aide said the consideration was part of an effort to boost competition in the refining industry.
“It’s one of the options that you have to consider if you find the right technical partner with the right capital,” she said.
Verheijen noted that the plants have largely been sustained by subsidies, saying “but now that we’ve removed the subsidies, we’ve removed the distortions in that market”.
In October, NNPC said it had commenced a comprehensive technical review of the moribund refineries in Warri, Port Harcourt, and Kaduna, with the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), Bayo Ojulari, saying it is becoming cumbersome to revamp state-owned refineries, hinting at completing an ongoing reassessment by year-end.
Speaking further, Verheijen said the government also sees a long-anticipated initial public offering for NNPC as “an end destination”.
“What’s really important to the shareholders is that we have an NNPC that’s a lot more transparent, a lot more efficient and delivers,” she said.
