Tonye Cole, the governorship candidate of the All-Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers state, and former Group Executive Director of Sahara Group, addressed the issue of fuel pump prices in Nigeria, stating that operating refineries at full scale will not automatically lead to reduced fuel prices. He made these statements during a Channels Television interview on Wednesday night.
Cole emphasized that maintaining the refineries requires importing certain parts, as Nigeria heavily relies on imports. These imported parts, needed for refinery maintenance, exert more pressure on the dollar exchange rate. He stressed that focusing solely on operating the refineries is not enough; productivity in the manufacturing sector needs to be addressed.
The former Group Executive Director advised the government to support existing manufacturing bases in areas like Kaduna, Kano, and Aba, enabling them to produce materials on a large scale and be less dependent on foreign exchange. He also pointed out the tech community as a sector where young Nigerians are earning foreign exchange from other countries while remaining in Nigeria.
Nigeria’s state-owned refineries in Kaduna, Warri, and Port Harcourt have been non-functional for years, leading to petroleum product imports. Some stakeholders have suggested selling the refineries to the private sector to boost productivity. Momoh Oyarekhua, Chairman of the Crude Oil Refineries Association of Nigeria (CORAN), recommended privatizing the state-owned refineries, as this approach has been successful in other parts of the world.
It’s crucial to note that a Federal House of Representatives report in June 2023 revealed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited spent N4.8 trillion to run state-owned refineries between 2010 and 2020. Despite significant investments, the output from the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries has not exceeded 30% since 2010.
