President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday said the NNPC has concluded the process for the selection of private sector partners that will rehabilitate the refineries.
Hosting the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, he said the reforms in the oil and gas sector of the country cannot and must not be rushed, if we must get it right.
“On refineries, the Public-Private Partnership approach we adopted to rehabilitate our existing refineries has taken longer than expected.
“However, I am aware that the NNPC has concluded the process for selecting the private sector partners that will rehabilitate the refineries. I am informed that they are working out finances and hopefully, work will commence soon.
He said his administration will continue to support innovative ideas that will bring new refineries investments into the country.
“In this respect, l look forward to receiving suggestions from your members on how we can move forward.
“As one of the architects of the Nigeria Contents Monitoring and Development Act, l am sure NUPENG members appreciate that a key principle of this act is the indigenisation of certain processes and production functions. Indigenisation means local value addition leveraging local resources where possible,” he said.