Oil and gas expert, Bala Zakka, has commended the decision by the Federal Government to rehabilitate the country’s refineries and begin refining operations before the end of the first quarter of 2023, describing it as a great legacy for the Buhari administration.
Zakka disclosed this while reacting to the decision by the Federal Government to rehabilitate the nations’ refineries as announced by the Federal Government through the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, on Monday.
He said that Local refining of Petroleum will ensure that Nigeria saves a lot of money from importing refined products, Insurance, Vessels D1 and Others.
He said the decision would ensure that the prices of Petroleum products will go down as against the gospel of deregulation which will never see a return to lower prices.
He said the loss of Foreign exchange will also stop when the refining of petroleum products kicks in.
On why the decision has been long in coming, he said it is better late than never and that the important thing is to start the process, ensure its completion and make it possible for Nigeria to refine locally.
He added that the process would end of ensuring that Nigeria saves Billions on a daily basis.
According to him, subsidy removal will never help Nigeria as long as the nation continues to import refined petroleum products for a country of 200 million people with a weak currency.
He added that Nigeria could no longer afford the delay that the failure to rehabilitate the refineries for over a decade now.
He said the rehabilitation of the refineries should be placed at par with the desire of Nigerians to have a free, fair and credible election this year.
He said the Federal Government should see this as a matter of National Economic survival adding that private refineries are after maximising profits and that only Government can protect the average citizen from the antics of profiteers.
