President Bola Tinubu has reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to reviving Nigeria’s refineries.
Tinubu said his government has accepted responsibility for the country’s assets and will focus on restoring the facilities to profitability rather than assigning blame for past failures.
The president gave the assurance on Thursday in Abuja while receiving the national executive of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), led by its National President, Salimon Oladiti, at the State House, according to a statement by presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga.
Responding to NUPENG’s appeal for the rehabilitation of the nation’s refineries, Tinubu said the government would adopt a systematic and evidence-based approach to address the structural, operational, financial and managerial challenges affecting the facilities.
He said detailed research and technical assessments would be carried out to identify the root causes of the problems and develop sustainable solutions.
“The refineries that you mentioned are going to come back to work; we’re just building a very firm, resetting, and structural reworking of the economy of it. Ordinary flame and smoke of a refinery doesn’t mean that it’s working until it’s profitable and yields the value for which it is built,” Tinubu said.
The President said his administration had accepted responsibility for the assets and liabilities inherited from previous governments and would focus on making the refineries work for the benefit of Nigerians.
“I’m not a man who goes looking back on everything because I’ve accepted the assets and liabilities of my predecessor. No matter what has happened in the years past, it’s now my responsibility as president to fix it and make it work for the greatest common good of our population. I take responsibility for that, and we will do it,” he said.
Tinubu also promised to review constitutional issues surrounding the implementation of local government autonomy and appealed to stakeholders for understanding.
On compressed natural gas (CNG), the President pledged greater involvement of NUPENG in implementing the Presidential Initiative on CNG. He also urged the union to help ensure that the benefits of the programme reach commuters.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said NUPENG’s recognition of the administration’s efforts had helped reduce friction between organised labour and the government. He described it as uncommon for a major labour union to publicly acknowledge government reforms.
Earlier, NUPENG President Salimon Oladiti described Tinubu’s decision to remove the fuel subsidy as courageous, saying it had freed resources for infrastructure development and other critical sectors.
Oladiti, however, urged the President to sustain efforts to revive the country’s refineries, noting that functional facilities would strengthen Nigeria’s energy security, reduce dependence on imported petroleum products and create more opportunities for Nigerian workers.
The NUPENG leadership later decorated President Tinubu as the Grand Patron of the union.
(The Whistler)