You never wanted any state-owned refineries to work – Group to Obasanjo

You never wanted any state-owned refineries to work – Group to Obasanjo

 The Movement for Anti-Corruption, Integrity, and
Transparency Initiative, has condemned the recent comment by former President
Olusegun Obasanjo against state-owned refineries.

 

Recall that former President Olusegun Obasanjo had revealed
how the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, declined a $750m offer by
billionaire business tycoon, Aliko Dangote, to manage the Port Harcourt &
Kaduna refineries back in 2007.

 

Obasanjo made this revelation during an exclusive interview
with Channels Television.

 

According to the ex-president, the NNPC knew that it did not
have the capacity to run the national refineries yet rejected Dangote’s offer.

 

Again, Obasanjo in a separate statement had described an
open invitation by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to tour the
newly revived Port Harcourt and Warri Refineries as disrespectful.

 

This followed NNPCL's invite to the ex-president to tour the
revamped facilities after he accused the state-owned oil firm of rejecting
Aliko Dangote’s $750 million to manage Port Harcourt Refinery.

 

But in a statement jointly signed by its National President,
Comrade Goodway Jackson, and the Secretary General, Comrade Mohammed Kuda, the
group said with the recent outburst by the former president, he has revealed
himself as someone who does not want to see the state-owned refineries work.

 

According to the statement, “To many, former President
Obasanjo’s recent outburst on State Refineries may not, after all, be because
he means well for the well-being of the nation’s refineries but due to an age-long
grudge he holds against NNPCL soon after he left office as president.”

 

“It is due to the personal vendetta he holds against the
State Refineries because after he (Obasanjo) left office, late President Umaru
Musa Yar’Adua who took over from him, reversed the sale of the Port Harcourt
Refinery to a consortium, having seen that its sale was shrouded in
controversy.

 

“Even when the two strong trade unions within the oil
industry, the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, and
the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN,
vehemently rejected and kicked against the privatisation of the two refineries
on the grounds of conflict of interest and lack of due process, a desperate
Obasanjo didn’t stop his selfish move.

 

“Those who are awaiting the privatisation of the refineries
in a manner at variance with the national interest should be advised to set up
their own refineries like the Dangote Group.”

Recall also that  rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, had recently
given reasons former President Umaru Yar’Adua reversed sale of the Port
Harcourt refinery to a consortium led by Dangote Oil.

 

Falana said the reversal was a pivotal step to address the
legal and ethical breaches surrounding the transaction and to protect Nigeria’s
national interest.

 

alleging that Obasanjo bypassed some legal requirements by
sidelining then-Vice President Atiku Abubakar and directly managing the
privatization of several state-owned enterprises.

Source: You never wanted any state-owned refineries to work – Group to Obasanjo

 - NigerianEye

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