By: Felix Ikpotor
Host Communities of the Port Harcourt Refinery, comprising of Okrika and Eleme Local Government Areas in Rivers State, have decried the recent shutdown of the facility by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, barely a few months after it was revamped.
The host communities at a media briefing in Port Harcourt suspects the shutdown to be a deliberate act of sabotage against national interest.
The communities under the aegis of HOSCOM Bulk Petroleum Retailers of the Port Harcourt Refinery expressed dismay, claiming that prior to the shutdown, there had been no significant progress in refinery operations.
They questioned the rationale behind shutting down a refinery that had not yet functioned at full capacity, less than a year after it resumed operations.
Chief Sunny Nkpe, Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the HOSCOM Bulk Petroleum Retailers, while briefing journalists urged the NNPCL to adhere to the 30 days timeline they have given for maintenance or else the communities would hold them accountable if the refinery goes further back into inoperation.
He called on the Federal Government to immediately appoint a substantive Managing Director with strong technical expertise to oversee the refinery’s operations and to ensure timely completion of the ongoing revamp.
“This refinery started steaming around October last year and it was the reason why we gave our massive support. They say they are shutting down for repairs which we don’t believe any repairs is taking place. We believe it is an attempt to shut it down like Warri and other refineries, so we are requesting that the 30-days shutdown should be strictly adhered to else the public would hold them responsible, the host communities would hold them responsible if anything goes wrong,” Nkpe warned.
The BOT chairman added: “We are requesting the the Group Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Mr Bayo Ojuleri to quickly appoint a new managing director for the refinery so that the rehabilitation can go smoothly and set goals achieved”.
Nkpe also demanded the immediate removal of Mr Bayo Akinrule, the current Port Harcourt Refinery Coordinator, accusing him of sabotaging President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda.
He however, expressed confidence in the contractor company handling the turn around maintenance of the refinery and urged the government to provide sufficient funding to enable faster progress.
On his part, Dr Joseph Obele, Administrative Secretary of the organisation expressed fears that the shutting down of the Port Harcourt Refinery could be a ploy to grant monopoly to an unnamed private refinery in the country.
He warned that if the sector is allowed to be monopolised that Nigerians would buy fuel at very exorbitant prices.
“What we are doing here today is no way a personal interest but the general interest to the people of Nigeria. We fear that the recent shutdown of the old Port Harcourt Refinery could be an orchestration to give monopoly to a particular private refinery,” Obele said.
He recalled that as at June/July last year when a particular private refinery started, fuel was selling for about 1,300 Naira per litre but as at October/November when the old Port Harcourt Refinery came up, it came down to between N800 an N900 Naira.
“Nigerians will buy fuel for close to N2000 Naira per litre and this is the reason why we the host communities are saying the shutdown as it has been designed to be 30 days should not be exceeded because anything beyond the 30 days, a particular private refinery will take charge and sell petroleum products to Nigerians at outrages prices so I urged Nigerians to join this call,” he stated.
Also speaking, Chairman of Independent Petroleum Marketers, IPMAN, Rivers State Unit, Pastor Tekena Ikpaki warned that if the 30 days timeline is not adhered to that it could lead to artificial scarcity in Rivers State in particular and Nigeria at large.
He suggested that there could be phased maintenance of the facility as against a complete shutdown so as not to stop the outflow of products which he feared could trigger panic buying amongst consumers.
“We know that the refinery still have products in their reservoir but if this reserves is depleted, on what product would the nation be sustained? So we are saying that if they say it’s 30 days, they should try to stay within the 30 days maintenance period because after this point, there maybe artificial scarcity in town that would affect the marketers and the entire nation,” Ikpaki appealed.
Inimgba Emmanuel, Zonal Secretary, Eastern Zone of IPMAN, and also a stakeholder from the community said as host communities to the refinery, they won’t fold their arms and watch it go moribund like it was before, calling on the general public to be alert on the happenings within the refinery as the shutdown may signal another hike in prices of fuel.
“The communities would no longer fold it’s arms and see things go wrong. This refinery was shutdown and we were in wilderness for years and that’s what we must look at.
“When this refinery was down completely, PMS market value was about N1200 but when it came up, prices started going down gradually, the public should be on the alert as well because this alarm we are raising is to protect the interest of the public which includes marketers, retailers, communities and Nigerians at large,” Inimgba stated.
