PETROAN urges FG to set timelines for Refinery completion, calls for Tinubu’s intervention

The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) has raised serious concerns over the lingering delays in the rehabilitation of the nation’s three major refineries, calling for specific, realistic completion timelines and decisive presidential intervention.

In a statement issued on Monday by its National PRO, Dr. Joseph Obele, PETROAN said the ongoing rehabilitation of the 210,000 barrels-per-day Port Harcourt Refinery, as well as the Warri and Kaduna refineries, had suffered repeated setbacks despite numerous assurances from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC).

While commending the commencement of operations at the 60,000 barrels-per-day Old Port Harcourt Refinery, the association stressed the urgent need for transparency, accountability, and a clear commissioning date for the larger Port Harcourt Refinery and others.

“The Second Port Harcourt Refinery, when completed, will serve the whole of System 2E, covering about 13 states,” the statement read. “It will also reduce the exorbitant cost of transporting petroleum products from Lagos to these areas and ease the pressure of fuel scarcity on citizens.”

PETROAN demanded that the NNPC immediately provide definite timelines for the completion and commissioning of these facilities and called on President Bola Tinubu to establish a high-level panel comprising regulators, labour unions, operators, and industry experts to resolve existing bottlenecks.

Addressing journalists in Abuja, PETROAN National President, Dr. Billy Gillis Harry, decried the continuous delay, describing it as “unacceptable,” and warned that the massive loans procured for these projects should be accounted for.

“We must demand accountability for every naira spent,” Harry stated, while commending President Tinubu for appointing Engr. Bayo Ojulari as NNPC’s Group CEO, describing him as a “round peg in a round hole.”

The association also expressed concern over the current vacancy in the office of the Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Refinery, identifying it as a critical obstacle to the project’s completion. PETROAN urged Ojulari to urgently appoint a substantive MD to provide the leadership necessary for delivering the project.

The group warned that the prolonged delays not only undermine Nigeria’s ambition for petroleum product self-sufficiency but also worsen the economic hardship faced by millions of citizens.