.Urges critical review, diligence

.As group condemns attack on Olu of Warri over pipeline surveillance contract

 

Emmanuel Nlewedum, Port Harcourt with agency report

 

 

The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), has advised the Federal Government against hasty lopsided sale of any national assets.

Dr Billy Gillis-Harry, the National President, PETROAN, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Abuja on Sunday.

Gillis-Harry made this known, following pressures on the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) to sell the country’s refineries.

He underscored the need for a deep thinking and critical analysis of the refineries with major stakeholders, before privatisation or sale.

 

NAN rsecalls that Mr Bayo Ojulari, the Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO), NNPC Ltd. recently disclosed that a strategic review of the NNPC’s refineries operations/strategies was ongoing and expected to be concluded before end of 2025

According to him, the decision to sell the refineries will be based on the outcome of the reviews which it is doing currently as it grapples with challenges in their rehabilitation.

In spite of huge investments made to rehabilitate the dormant state-owned Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries, the Port Harcourt refinery resumed operations in November 2023, but was shut down again in May for maintenance.

The NNPC Ltd. attributed some of the setbacks to outdated infrastructure and underperforming technologies.

Speaking with NAN, Gillis-Harry expressed dissatisfaction on how national assets which were termed not functional always become functional after being privatised to a private company that would turn it around.

Gillis-Harry recalled that Nigeria hurriedly, without deep analysis and thinking, entered into lopsided sales or partnership agreement with an Indian company called Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals several years ago.

He said the dormant Eleme Petrochemical then was sold lopsidedly to the Indian company without deep thinking.

“It took the Indian company, Indorama, to just take over that refinery and turn it into Eldorado. And they are smiling to the banks across the globe.

“Today, that company is rolling out billions and billions of dollars, and we don’t even know the benefits of that company’s operation to everyday Nigerians.

“Is it the same kind of experience the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries will now suffer.

“It is a challenge to the leadership in this country to look inwards and see the education, the management capacity and the value we present even to ourselves to see what Indorama is doing,” he said.

He explained that the dormant Eleme Petrochemicals company which was sold was having the same kind of issues  the refineries are presently experiencing.

The expert, while drawing an inference to Eleme Petrochemicals that is within the same ambience – the same economic environment of the Port Harcourt refinery, however, asked if the same thing will be done without any deep thinking?

“So, now, refineries that belonged to Nigeria that were only built in the late 60s and early 70s are now being termed as cannot work.

“So we are proud to announce to the world that since they cannot work, one of the options on the table is to sell them,” he said .

He also recalled how another national asset, the National Fertiliser Company of Nigeria (NAFCON) – the money spinner for Nigeria became dilapidated deliberately and a private limited liability company bought it over and turned it into an Eldorado.

“This is typical of how Nigeria’s economic revamping system operates, because we enter into arrangements where we privatise Federal Government enterprises and companies and a lot more.

“We can talk about so many different Federal Government owned companies that have gone through the same kind of experience. So, what is wrong,” he asked

He underscored the need to review the country’s real objectives to ascertain how to grow the economy robustly, how to leave a legacy for administrative sagacity, intelligence and technology savviness, which Nigerians never lacked.

“PETROAN had earlier recommended that the refineries should be privatised and stakeholders should be part of the process so that we can all put our eyes on our common patrimony and ensure that it works.

“If it should be done, Nigerians, especially relevant stakeholders who have passion should drive the process. That’s our take,” the expert said.

.As group condemns attack on Olu of Warri over pipeline surveillance contract

 

In another development, The Buckingham Palace Group in the Niger Delta, has frowned at calls by some ex-Niger Delta agitators for the termination of the surveillance contract awarded to Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Limited, PINL, and alleged marginalisation of community youths.

 

The group also condemned attacks by the ex-agitators on the Olu of Warri, His Majesty, Ogiame Atuwatse III, with accusations of his alleged involvement in illegal bunkering activities.

 

The ex-agitators under the aegis of Aggressive Niger Delta Freedom Fighters Forum recently issued a statement circulated on social media, calling on the Presidency to terminate the legally awarded pipeline surveillance contract to the PINL on the basis of the above allegations.

 

But, Buckingham Palace Group in a statement on Sunday by Kenny Amgbare, Public Relations Officer and Festus Ederekumor, Vice President, absolved PINL and the Olu of Warri of any wrongdoing, and described the allegations against them as “baseless, wild, weightless, and inflammatory”.

The group said the allegations by the ex-agitators were ill-conceived and self- serving.

On the allegations of  marginalization of host communities/youth leaders, the group said it was untrue, stating that PINL has consistently operated within a framework of inclusiveness, equity, and local content by maintaining active engagements with host communities through employment for all host community youths, capacity building initiatives, skills acquisition programmes, and regular consultations with community leaders and stakeholders through its monthly stakeholders engagements.

Buckingham Group dismissed the allegation on involvement in bunkering activities, noting that PINL operates under the direct supervision of federal agencies to defend and deter, not abet, vandalism and oil theft on national pipeline infrastructure.

It added that to accuse the same security contractor of enabling the very crimes it exists to combat is to misunderstand both logic and law.

The group also said the allegations of sponsoring conflicts within the host communities was untrue as PINL operational ethos was rooted in peacebuilding; “Ranging from brokering dialogue to supporting reconciliation, the company is a quiet stabilizer that has invested in harmony, not hostility; building, bridging and mending. If there is any fire, it is not lit by this firm,” it said.

Clarifying on the alleged forceful renaming of communities, the group said  PINL, as a private entity, had neither the authority nor interest in such claims.

“To suggest that either PINL or His Majesty, the Olu of Warri, seeks to rename Ijaw communities is to peddle a dangerous politically motivated and ethnically divisive narrative wrapped in fabrication and must be disregarded in its entirety”, the Buckingham Group stated.

It insisted that territorial boundaries were not the playgrounds of corporate ambition stressing that PINL, a private infrastructure company with a defined license and operational mandate by the Federal Government, had neither sought nor claimed ownership of land be it Ijaw or otherwise.

It emphasized that the company did not, and could not draw boundary lines or alter land jurisdictions, saying that the allegations was both misleading and incendiary.

The group averred that it was a well known fact that the activities of PINL has led to increase in oil production and more revenue for the Federal Government through its achievement of near-zero infractions on the Trans Niger Pipeline, TNP, in the last one year.

While urging the public to disregard the claims by the ex-agitators, the group enjoined them to see through the veil of propaganda and reject the divisive agenda that lied beneath it.

It said: “These allegations are not the cries of justice rather they are the chants of opportunism. Their authors do not speak for the Niger Delta. They speak only for themselves”.

The Buckingham Palace Group however, restated its unwavering support for Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Ltd and for His Majesty, the Olu of Warri, whose reign they said had been marked by vision, peace, and dignity.

It further cautioned all public commentators to be careful with their comments, pursue dialogue in addressing their grievances so as not to cause crisis in the Niger Delta region.

It also called on all stakeholders including traditional institutions, community leaders, youth organizations, and civil society groups in the region to stand united against manipulation and to preserve the existing peace in order to deepen development in the Niger Delta.

 

 

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