Nigerians Like To Bandy Figures, FG Reacts To Criticism On Refinery Rehabilitation

The Federal Government has reacted to the criticism of its decision to complete the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery, saying that “Nigerians like to bandy figures.”

The Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, made the reaction in an interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.

Sylva also disclosed that the Nigerian government planned to rehabilitate other refineries in the country, and that the move is not to waste funds as the criticism has said.

“There are plans to also fix the Warri Refinery and Kaduna Refinery and then we would get all those staff to work,” he added.

On March 17, the Nigerian government approved $1.5 billion for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery, many people have described the amount as too much for the project.

READ ALSO: Fayemi Asks FG To Justify Port Harcourt Refinery’s Rehabilitation

While speaking on the interview, the minister debunked the insinuation that the rehabilitation could have not been more than N500 million.

“You see, Nigerians like to bandy figures,” Sylva stated. “I can tell you that that cannot be true. We are talking with the professionals.”

Many Nigerians including the opposition have expressed concerns over the funding for the project, adding that borrowing for the rehabilitation would mortgage the future of the country but the minister said borrowing will only form a part of the project.

“Let me tell you how this rehabilitation is going to be funded; it is not going to be all debts, we are not going to borrow all the monies that are going into the rehabilitation (project),” he added.

“Some of the money will come from NNPC’s internally generated revenue – from NPDC, some of it will come from the Federal appropriation, and just a little fraction will come from the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).”