Tinubu Vows to Revive Nigeria’s Refineries After Reset
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has assured Nigerians that the country’s refineries will be revived after undergoing a comprehensive reset, restructuring and technical assessment to ensure they become productive and profitable.
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 Federal Government would not allow the nation’s refineries, which have attracted huge investments over the years, to waste away.
He explained that the administration would adopt a systematic and evidence-based approach to addressing the challenges confronting the facilities rather than relying on short-term interventions.
“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 the mere presence of flames or smoke from a refinery does not necessarily indicate that the facility is functioning effectively, noting that profitability and value creation must be the ultimate measures of success.
According to him, detailed research and technical assessments would be undertaken to identify the structural, operational, financial and managerial problems affecting the refineries and develop sustainable solutions.
Tinubu also said he had accepted responsibility for fixing the challenges inherited from previous administrations, irrespective of what had happened in the past.
“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,” he said.
The President also promised to review constitutional issues surrounding the implementation of local government autonomy, with a view to possible fine-tuning, while appealing to stakeholders for understanding.
He recalled his relationship with the late former NUPENG President, Frank Kokori, acknowledging his contribution to Nigeria’s democratic struggle.
“You brought good memories of my relationship with Frank Kokori; may his soul rest in peace. We struggled for this democratic dispensation together,” Tinubu said.
The President further promised greater inclusion of NUPENG in the implementation of the Presidential Initiative on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), challenging the union to ensure that the benefits of the programme reach ordinary commuters.
Speaking at the event, 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 recognition by NUPENG had helped reduce friction between the government and organised labour, describing it as unusual for a major trade union to publicly commend a government’s policies.
He specifically highlighted the removal of fuel subsidy and the administration’s infrastructure projects as areas where the government’s reforms were producing visible results.
The NUPENG President, Oladiti, commended Tinubu for taking the decision to remove fuel subsidy, describing it as a courageous step that had saved the country from decades of financial drain and depletion of national reserves.
He said the policy had begun freeing resources for infrastructure development and other critical sectors of the economy.
Oladiti also praised the Federal Government’s renewed focus on road infrastructure, citing the ongoing 750-kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and the 1,068-kilometre Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway.
“For our members, a good road is the difference between arriving home safely and never arriving at all,” he said, noting that improved highways would reduce accidents, fuel spillages and loss of lives among tanker drivers and other road users.
However, the NUPENG president urged the Federal Government to sustain its efforts to revive the nation’s refineries, stressing that functional refineries would strengthen Nigeria’s energy security, reduce dependence on imported petroleum products and create more employment opportunities.
The union’s leadership later decorated President Tinubu as the Grand Patron of NUPENG.
