Victor Ezeja
A development Economist, Abayomi Oyalowo, has called for the probe of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Mele Kolo Kyari, over monies spent on Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of the nation’s oil refineries over the years.
Oyalowo queried why the Federal Government continues to spend money on the maintenance of refineries that are not working and also paying salaries of staff when nothing is being produced.
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Oyalowo, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who appeared on Channels Television Sunrise Daily on Friday morning, said Kyari need to explain to Nigerians how much has been spent on TAM and what happened that made them not work.
“The man running NNPC now has a question to answer. A lot of money was spent on Turn Around Maintenance of refineries, why are they not working and he has superintended that. I don’t know why he is still in office. I think he needs to explain to Nigeria how much has been spent on TAM and what has happened,” Abayomi stated.
He said that since the refineries are not working, it is better for the government to sell them off to competent private investors, who would rebuild and manage them better, rather than wasting money on TAM yet there is no result in terms of local production of petroleum.
Oyalowo’s call comes at a time Nigerians are grappling with the hike in the cost of petrol following the removal of subsidy on the commodity by the Federal Government.
He said NNPC has proven that it is not reliable in terms of managing the refineries.
He said that for the first time, Nigeria is going to have a private refinery owned by Aliko Dangote which is about to come on stream, whereas government-owned ones are not functioning.
“Let’s sell all of them and go fully private; let’s deregulate for fuel as we have in the diesel market, Jet Fuel market, and kerosene market. NNPC has shown that it is not reliable, especially in managing our refineries. People have been earning salaries for up to 20 years now and those refineries have not produced anything, so, why do we still hold onto them? The only thing that the refineries have been doing is taking money in the name of Turnaround maintenance and we have not seen any maintenance done. The leaders in those areas need to answer questions from Nigerians,” Abayomi stated.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with seven years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Master's degree in Mass Communication.
