The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has given indications that the Federal Government may be planning to eventually privatize the nation’s refineries so as to mitigate the challenge of fuel scarcity in the country.
The four refineries owned and run by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), located in Port Harcourt (two), Kaduna and Warri respectively, have not been running at maximum capacities, leading to the need to privatize them
The refineries have been comatose until recently, when three out of Nigeria’s four oil refineries resumed activity and are operating at between 60 per cent and 80 per cent of their capacity.
The Director-General of BPE, Benjamin Dikki, who expressed government’s desire to privatize the refineries, said that the plan would require the passage of the correct Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
Dikki, while receiving a delegation from Greenpark Worldwide, led by a one-time British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Sir Richard Gozney, expressed the optimism that the 8th National Assembly would have the opportunity to review the original Bill of 2008, which when passed would achieve the desired result for Nigeria.
