Nigeria’s Senate Committee on Downstream Petroleum has expressed readiness to driving a process that will get government owned refineries working again.
The Committee said it will work with an ad-hoc committee constituted to investigate turn around maintenance (TAM) of Nigerian four refineries.
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Speaking to legislative correspondents on Tuesday after a strategic meeting of the committee that deliberated on options to reposition the sector, Chairman of the committee, Senator Kawu Sumaila, announced an interactive engagement with the leadership of the downstream sector. No date is, however, fixed for the engagement.
The committee said it will also take a tour of all government owned refineries as part of measures to achieve its set goal.
Senator Kawu observed that the bulk of the challenges facing the country is linked to the petroleum sector. Adding that repositioning the sector would alleviate the plights of Nigerians.
“if you look at the challenges facing the country today, it boils down to the petroleum sector crisis,” he said.
He also observed that the choice of whether to retain ownership or privatise the refineries would be decided by Nigerians at a public hearing after the refineries have been fixed.
Recall that the Senate ad-hoc committee on the investigation of Turnaround Maintenance of Nigerian Refineries also headed by Senator Kawu has also resolved to tour all government owned refineries to ascertain their state.
According to reports, the turnaround maintenance of the refineries, between 2010 to date, has allegedly gulped ₦11 trillion.
