The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State in the 2023 general elections, Tony Cole, has said that successive governments’ inability to put refineries into use is a national shame.
Cole stated this during an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today on Monday.
He said even if the present administration succeeded in building refineries, it must ensure their maintenance for Nigeria to survive the challenge.
“Between 2002 and 2007, the Obasanjo regime went very active in privatizing refineries. He was very close to doing it before he left office. And all of that was reversed.
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“Between 2007 and today look at what happened. Between 1999 to date if you count how much we have spent on subsidy, import and turnaround maintenance, we would have built tens of these refineries. It was just a waste. It has been a national shame. That is why it is pertinent for this administration to get it right.”
He said that if Port Harcourt, Warri and Dangote were functioning properly, Nigeria would be fine.
He added, “If you have two refineries working at the same time, you will be okay. We have redundancy and capacity. Do you know that we have not expanded these refineries for years? We need technology to expand and improve them. The world has gone further than we are.
“If I were President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, I would make sure that the refineries work. I will make sure that there is no excuse. There will be consequences for any action.”
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