By Adewale Sanyaolu
The Petroleum Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) has expressed concerns that the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), Mr. Bayo Ojulari, lacks passion for the functionality of the Port Harcourt Refinery.
The association, in a statement by its Eastern Zonal Chairman, Mr. Sunny Nkpe, lamented that since assuming office over four months ago, Ojulari has not visited the refinery.
He further alleged that rather than promote the interest of the state-owned refinery, Ojulari is giving support and competitive advantage to private refineries to gain monopoly and exploit Nigerians with outrageous prices for petroleum products.
The PETROAN Zonal Chairman, who was on a fact-finding visit, said he was worried to observe the slow pace of work at the Old Port Harcourt Refinery (Area 5), shut down on May 24, 2025, for a 30-day scheduled repair.
He added that part of his findings revealed that contractors working at the refinery have been starved of funds for over 12 months.
“All was set for the Old Port Harcourt Refinery to commence production, as the necessary repairs scheduled for the cracking and blending plant of Unit 12 and Unit 14 of the old refinery were almost completed before the new GCEO of NNPC gave no commitment and showed lack of interest, which signals support to give a competitive advantage to private refineries to gain monopoly and exploit Nigerians with outrageous prices for petroleum products.”
To this end, he said the association would notify other stakeholders and mobilise them on the next line of action.
The consultation, he said, will include all stakeholders negatively impacted by the dormant state of the refinery, including the Industrial Motor Branch (IMB) of NUPENG, Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) of NUPENG, PETROAN, IPMAN, NUGASAN, Sutakep and others.
According to him, the effect of the dormant state of the refinery has led to thousands of tanker drivers being out of jobs, including staff of PETROAN and IPMAN, saying it has become imperative that all stakeholders agree on legitimate options for the revival of the Port Harcourt Refinery.
He emphasised that the commencement of production at the Port Harcourt Refinery will stabilise the prices of petroleum products and reduce the dominance of private refineries.
He explained that the Port Harcourt Refinery is key to the supply chain distribution of petroleum products all over Nigeria, injecting products to major cities of Aba, Enugu, Makurdi, and other key states. The Zonal Chairman therefore called on the GCEO of NNPC to give the Port Harcourt Refinery top priority attention.
He equally called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to direct the immediate revitalisation of the Port Harcourt Refinery, saying further delay could mean a deliberate action orchestrated by vested interests targeted at sabotaging the vision of Mr. President.
Nkpe noted that for the seven months during which the Old Port Harcourt Refinery operated, economic activities regained boom, petty traders within the host communities celebrated, and jobs were also created.
Above all, he said, the prices of petroleum products were stable and at average, while competition was at its peak.
Nkpe said he was super excited when Mr. Bashir Bayo Ojulari was appointed as the new GCEO of NNPC, describing him as a technocrat coming from Shell, which has an international reputation.
However, Nkpe said he was shocked by Ojulari’s inability to show capacity in reviving the Old Port Harcourt Refinery, which was supposed to be fixed within 30 days from May 24, 2025.
