FG would not sell refineries – Kachikwu insists

The Minister of State for petroleum resources, Ibe Kachikwu, has insisted that the Federal Government will not sell its refineries.

The minister speaking on Tuesday at the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit in Abuja said rather than sell, the aim is to make Nigeria the refinery corridor for the rest of the continent.

He reiterated that rather than selling off Nigeria’s ailing refineries, the federal government will ramp up investments such that new refineries will be built across the country.

“The President (Muhammadu Buhari) has made it clear that he was not going to sell the refineries, because if we sell them, we are going to be selling them as scraps.

“So the model we came up with is to bring in private sector investment in the repair and management of the refineries and get them up to about 90% of capacity.

“That process is almost completed now, probably in a matter of weeks, we will be announcing the winners.

“We want to get the private sector to be major investors in building new refineries.

“There are two or three modular refineries that are ready to come up.

“Agip is working towards final investment decision (FID) on 100,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery in Bayelsa state, and of course there is the Niger Republic Refinery that we are discussing- also a 100,000 bpd potential.

“The objective is to make Nigeria a refinery corridor in Africa.”