President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has assured Nigerians that the country’s refineries will be revived, saying the Federal Government is working on a comprehensive reset and restructuring of the facilities to make them profitable and sustainable.
Tinubu gave the assurance on Thursday in Abuja when he received the National Executive Council of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), led by its National President, Comrade Salimon Akanni Oladiti, at the State House.
The President said the government would not allow the refineries, which have attracted huge investments over the years, to waste away.
He explained that the administration would adopt an evidence-based approach involving detailed research, technical assessments and restructuring to identify and address the structural, operational, financial and managerial challenges affecting the facilities.
“The refineries that you mentioned are going to come back to work; we’re just building a very firm, resetting, and structural reworking of the economy of it,” Tinubu said.
He stressed that simply having a refinery produce flames and smoke would not amount to success unless it operated profitably and delivered the value for which it was established.
The President said he had accepted responsibility for the assets and liabilities inherited from previous administrations and was determined to fix the challenges facing the country’s refineries in the interest of Nigerians.
“No matter what has happened in the years past, it’s now my responsibility as president to fix it and make it work for the greatest common good of our population. I take responsibility for that, and we will do it,” he said.
Tinubu also appealed to Nigerians and stakeholders to support democratic governance, assuring that the country would ultimately experience better conditions.
On local government autonomy, the President said constitutional issues surrounding its implementation were being reviewed, with the possibility of fine-tuning the process.
He also recalled his relationship with the late former NUPENG President, Frank Kokori, acknowledging his contributions to Nigeria’s democratic struggle.
The President further promised greater inclusion of NUPENG in the implementation of the Presidential Initiative on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), while challenging the union to ensure that the benefits of the programme reached ordinary commuters.
Earlier, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, commended NUPENG for acknowledging what he described as the positive outcomes of the Tinubu administration’s reforms.
Idris said the union’s recognition of the government’s efforts was significant, noting that such engagement had helped reduce friction between organised labour and government.
He cited the removal of fuel subsidy and ongoing infrastructure projects as major areas where the administration’s reforms were producing visible results.
The NUPENG President, Oladiti, commended Tinubu for ending the fuel subsidy regime, describing the decision as courageous and one that had saved the country from years of financial drain and depletion of national reserves.
He said the policy had begun to free resources for infrastructure development and other sectors of the economy.
Oladiti particularly praised the Federal Government’s road construction projects, including the 750-kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and the 1,068-kilometre Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway.
He said improved roads were particularly important to NUPENG members, especially tanker drivers and other road users, as they would help reduce accidents, fuel spillages and loss of lives.
The NUPENG leader, however, urged the President to sustain efforts to revive the country’s refineries, stressing that functional refineries would strengthen Nigeria’s energy security, reduce dependence on imported petroleum products and create employment opportunities.