CSOs Knock Kyari Over Warri Refinery, Plan 2m Man March in Abuja 

No fewer than 100 civil society organisations (CSOs) have appended their signatures to mobilise their members and shut down the corporate headquarters of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) for failing to activate the Warri Refinery.

This was even as the organisations have passed a vote of no confidence on the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the NNPCL, Mallam Mele Kyari, describing him as a clog in the wheels of development of the energy sector of Nigeria.

The CSOs requested that Kyari, the NNPCL and its agencies should come out and explain to Nigerians how the $3 billion spent on rehabilitation and activation of the Warri Refinery was spent.

Coming under the umbrella of Coalition of Civil Society Groups against Corruption in Energy Sector, the group said as long as Kyari continues to decide what becomes of the faith of over 150m Nigerians using petroleum products, and by extension, the fate of over 250 million Nigerians, who suffer the consequences of what happens in the energy sector, President Bola Tinubu will not achieve the desired revolution in the sector.

The spokesperson for the CSOs, Mr. Efe Irabor, via a statement on Tuesday, urged Nigerians to prepare for the worst, as Kyari did not have the intention of rehabilitating and putting into operations the refineries in Warri, Kaduna and Port Harcourt.

Irabor recalled how the NNPCL moved to frustrate the Dangote Refinery and the resultant effect on the market force, saying if it was allowed to operate with its good intentions, and crude was willingly sold to it, Dangote Refinery would have crashed the fuel price and made life bearable for the masses.

“You will recall that sometime in June, the Dangote Refinery said oil majors were blocking its access to locally produced crude and the regulator (NNPCL and NMDPRA) were allowing fuel traders import high-sulphur gasoil, thereby undermining its refinery.

“But when some lawmakers from the National Assembly visited the plant a few weeks later, Alhaji Aliko Dangote insisted on a test of the gasoil from his plant with others sold in the local market. The result showed that Dangote Refinery’s diesel had a sulphur content of 87.6 ppm, whereas the other two samples showed sulphur levels exceeding 1800 ppm and 2,000 ppm, respectively.

“Meanwhile, the downstream regulator, NMDPRA had alleged that the gasoil processed by the Dangote Refinery was between 650 to 1,200 parts per million of sulphur, thus inferior to imported products. Meanwhile, our findings revealed that Nigeria’s regulation allows for the sulphur content in gasoil to be about 50 ppm,” the CSOs said.

The statement also revealed that the NNPCL planned to convert the refineries in Port Harcourt and Warri to blending plants, just to encourage cronies to continue importing products with high density of sulphur, not minding the environmental effects on the locals and the ripple effect on the masses who use the products.

“We shall rise against this act of irresponsibility. Nigerian refineries must be put into full functions. Kyari, the NNPCL, NMDPRA and all the concerned bodies should tell Nigerians how they spent over 3 billion dollars released to put the Warri Refinery into proper functioning. Anything short of full fledged refineries shall be resisted.

“In the coming days, we shall announce the date where we shall march, with each of the 100 groups mobilizing not less than 200 members, in a 2 million-man match to the NNPC towers and the National Assembly, to demand that the Warri Refinery be activated. To demand accountability from those who collected the money to fix our refineries and are now speaking English,” the spokesperson added.

The Chief Corporate Communications Officer of NNPCL, Mr. Olufemi Soneye, had stated in February this year, that the Warri Refinery would be rehabilitated by the first quarter of this year.

Warri, one of Nigeria’s three refineries operated by NNPCL, is situated in Warri, Delta State, and was established in 1978.

The other two are the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company in Kaduna State and the Port Harcourt Refining Company in Rivers State. 

Warri Refinery is a complex conversion refinery that processes 125,000 barrels of crude oil daily. 

The facility houses a 1988-founded petrochemical plant that produces carbon black and polypropylene.