You are not the engineer working on refineries, Presidency replies Obasanjo

The presidency has informed former President Olusegun Obasanjo that he will not be the one to decide whether or not Nigeria’s oil refineries will operate.

The former leader asserted that he attempted to restart Nigeria’s oil refineries but was unsuccessful, and he suggested that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s plan to do the same will not succeed.

During an exclusive interview with TheCable, Obasanjo revealed that he had twice served as president of Nigeria, first as the country’s military head of state from 1976 to 1979 and then as a civilian president elected by the people between 1999 and 2007.

“Someone said Tinubu said refineries would operate by December. I explained that the refineries wouldn’t operate to the person. The information I received from Shell while I was president is the basis for this, Obasanjo said.

Obasanjo, according to the presidency, is not an engineer or expert in these fields, so he is not in a position to make decisions about Nigeria’s oil refineries.

President Tinubu’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Tope Ajayi, stated that what Obasanjo said was just his opinion.

Because Tinubu relied on engineers’ projections to make his statement about the refineries, Ajayi advised Obasanjo to wait until December and see what transpires.

Olusegun Obasanjo, former president, is not an engineer, with all due respect. He isn’t the engineer who works at the refineries.

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Ajayi said this in a Daily Trust segment titled “Analyzing the First 100 Days of President Tinubu” and under the heading, “So, the engineers and the NNPC gave the president a report and they have said that it will work by December this year.”

About four months remain before the end. I’ll say this with all due respect to the former president, who is a wise elder and our father, and with the understanding that what he said represents his own personal viewpoint.

I’d rather trust the engineering expertise of the refinery’s staff. I believe it would be best to hold off until December.

After the ongoing rehabilitation contract between the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and Italian company, Maire Tecnimont SpA, is finished, President Tinubu stated in August that the petroleum refinery in Port Harcourt will begin producing by December 2023.

If Tinubu follows through on his promise to revive the refinery, Nigeria will be less dependent on importing oil and using foreign refineries.

The refineries were completely shut down in 2021 after producing little to no fuel for the previous ten years, according to NNPCL, who has been working to modernize them.