By Abiola Olawale (The New Diplomat’s Southwest Bureau)
Chief Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, has assured Nigerians that the Federal Government would ensure a speedy completion of the renovation works on Port Harcourt refinery, adding that citizens should hold him and the government accountable should the project fail.
The assurance by Sylva follows the concerns raised by Nigerians on the $1.5billion (N615billion) approved for the renovation of the refinery. However, Sylva has come out to pledge that the Federal Government will spend the fund allocated to the project on the purpose it was meant for.
The minister made this known during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
He also disclosed that the Federal Government will not borrow any funds to rehabilitate the refinery. The minister debunked the reports from government’s critics claiming that the Federal Government was planning to borrow funds for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery.
According to the minister, the money will be generated from the revenue of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Federal appropriation, adding that a little fraction of the money will come from the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).
In his words, “I can look at the camera; they (Nigerians) can hold me accountable and hold this government accountable for every dollar, every cent on this project and ensure that we deliver a refinery that works. The NNPC is going to spend about $200 million from its internally generating revenue sources, while the Federal appropriation will put in about $800 million and it is already broken down into three parts. The 2020 appropriation will give $350 million, 2021 appropriation will give another $350 million, and 2022 appropriation will give another $100 million, making it all $800 million from appropriation, and then the rest of it will now come from Afreximbank.”
It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had on Wednesday, gave his nod to the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery.
President Buhari who presided over the 38th virtual meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the sum of $1.5bn (615billion) for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery.
The decision by the Federal Government to rehabilitate the refinery with $1.5bn has trigged lots of debates across the country.
Recall also that Atiku Abubakar, a former Vice President of Nigeria had criticized the government for approving such fund at the time that the national debt had hit N32.9 trillion.
Similarly, many Nigerians have raised objections to the federal government plan to rehabilitate the oil and gas facility.
