A former President of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ Lanre Ogundipe has accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL of lying to Nigerians about the status of the Port Harcourt refinery.
Ogundipe in a statement on Friday stated that the refinery ws fraudulently packaged.
He also noted that claims that the refinery is fully operational is false.
The NNPC had earlier announced the commencement of operations by the refinery.
However, the veteran journalist said the claims are false, alleging that only some units of the old refinery have been activated while work at the facility was at a skeletal level.
Ogundipe who insisted that the claim by NNPCL is false, called for an independent investigation of NNPCL, saying the celebrations that attended the announced resuscitation of the moribund refinery were immature going by the available facts which have not been contradicted by officials of NNPCL.
The former NUJ President said for Nigerians to have a full understanding of the fraud game that is afoot, there is a need for joint efforts of civil society organizations and the media to carry out further investigations.
He added that this would help to ascertain the true status of the refinery, requesting that investigators be granted access to the refinery to obtain accurate reports on its operations.
“The celebrations that attended the announced resuscitation of the moribund Port-Harcourt refinery are immature going by the available fact which has not been contradicted by officials of NNPCL, led by Mr. Mele Kyari. And it can be declared that it is not yet Uhuru with our energy sector, as the much-anticipated relief from the exorbitant price and periodic scarcity of petrol, remains a distant dream.
“Without fear of any contradiction, what has been achieved so far, is that only some units of the old refinery have been activated while work at the facility was at a skeletal level. Though some progress has been made, which stands the NNPCL in good stead to announce that they have flagged off something, that is not to say, that they are already producing 1 million, 400,000 barrels per day. That is not the case and that is not true. Such a claim, credited to the Head of Corporate Communications of NNPCL, is a fraudulent one which has to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
“As it stands, let it be clear that no single product has been moved from the Port Harcourt refinery area into the product reception area of the depot. Some energy experts, expressed similar concerns, pointing out the need for greater transparency from the NNPCL.
“For Nigerians to have a full understanding of the fraud game that is afoot, this column calls for joint efforts of civil society organizations and the media, to collaborate and carry out further investigations, to ascertain the true status of that refinery. The investigation should be independent of NNPCL and they should be granted access to the refinery to obtain accurate reports on its operations”.
