Due to incessant increase in prices of petroleum products by the Federal Government, the House of Representatives has demanded details of the 66.6 billion Naira proposed for rehabilitation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC’s refineries in the 2021 budget estimates.
The House joint Committees on Petroleum Resources made the request during a review of the 2020 budget and the defence of the 2021 budget estimates of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.
At the budget defence session, the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mele Kyari told the lawmakers that the corporation had undergone a lot of transformation in its operations.
He said the agency publishes it’s audited accounts on yearly basis and also publishes it’s transactions at the federation account in a website.
According to him, in April 2021,the corporation hit a 2.49 million barrel of crude oil production per day, a feat he added could not be achieved in the past ten years.
Also Read: 2021 Budget Defence: Gbajabiamila gives committee 48 hours to submit budget reports
Speaking on the budget of the agency, Kyari said the 50 billion Naira that was budgeted for in the 2020 Budget had been significantly reduced due to the coronavirus pandemic.
And on rehabilitation of refineries, the GMD explained that the agency deliberately shut down the facilities because it was practically impossible to run them at full installed capacities.
He added that the pipelines must have up to 230 to 240 barrels of oil per day for the refineries to operate otherwise its operations runs at a loss.
Not satisfied with the GMD’s explanations, a member of the Committee, Osai Nicholas said there is no proper account of what the agency had spent on fixing the refineries.
He further questioned why the agency had not allowed its facilities to be oversighted by the House over the years as provided for in Section 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution.
Other lawmakers also queried why the agency’s helmsman glossed over the commissioning of a modular refinery in Imo State where the nation is jolted by this development in the oil sector.
The NNPC boss however assured the committee members that they are working assiduously to fix the refineries starting with the Port Harcourt refinery, then Warri and subsequently Kaduna refineries.
