Mr Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, has said that the management of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, lacks the powers to sell the nation’s refineries.
Falana, the Chair, Alliance on Surviving Covid 19 and Beyond (ASCAB), identified the country’s existing laws as a legal and constitutional check against the bid to sell the refineries.
He argued that lack of transparency and due process in the running of the company and the federal government’s back hand deals with Dangote refinery should be properly investigated by anti- graft agencies.
“In 2021, the Muhammadu Buhari administration approved the rehabilitation contracts of the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries for the sum of $2.9 billion. Whereas the bulk of the huge fund was criminally diverted, the Management of the NNPCL lied that the refineries had been rehabilitated. Despite security reports that the rehabilitation was a hoax the NNPCL Management celebrated the commissioning of the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries,” Falana said, adding that, “having confirmed that the nation had been duped by the foreign contractors and their local cohorts in the NNPCL, the refineries have been shut down while the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has commenced the investigation of the criminal diversion of the said sum of $2.9 billion.
According to him, last Thursday, the President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, stated that the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries might never resume operations, even after about $18bn had been spent on their turnaround.
Barely 24 hours later, the SAN continued, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPCL, Mr. Bayo Ojulari, echoed similar concerns, revealing that the company was considering selling off the refineries as years of rehabilitation had failed to yield meaningful results due to the facilities’ outdated status.
“It is interesting to note that Mr. Dangote has continued to acknowledge the huge contribution of the Federal Government to the success of his own refinery, the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals. Why should a government that assisted a private businessman to build a 650, 000 bpd refinery be committed to frustrating the rehabilitation of its own 450, 000 bpd refineries?,” he asked.
He said the public refineries cannot be sold by the NNPCL Management for the following reasons :
“In the first place, the public refineries are neither owned by the NNPCL nor the Federal Government. They are owned by the Government of the Federation ie the Federal Government, the 36 state governments and the 774 local governments in the country by virtue of section 44(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended. To that extent, the NNPCL should ensure that the public refineries are fully rehabilitated.
“Secondly, the planned sale of the refineries by the NNPCL Management should not be allowed as it will frustrate the ongoing investigation of the criminal diversion of the sum of $2.9 billion paid to two foreign contractors for the rehabilitation of the refineries.
“Thirdly, the nation’s refineries are not among the public enterprises listed for privatisation in the Commercialisation and Privatisation Act. Without an amendment of the Act, the sale of the four refineries by the NNPCL Management or the Federal Government will be set aside.
“Fourthly, selling the nation’s refineries to a few individuals or a group will violate section 16(2)(c) of the Constitution provides that “the economic system is not operated in such a manner as to permit the concentration of wealth or the means of production and exchange in the hands of few individuals or of a group.
“However, Mr. Dangote revealed that the Federal Government has, so far, spent $18 billion on the alleged rehabilitation of the public refineries. Since the information is at his disposal, Mr. Dangote should be prepared to assist the EFCC in the ongoing probe of the fraudulent rehabilitation of the public refineries. The recovery of the bulk of $18 billion from the failed refinery contracts will be sufficient to construct a new refinery.
“Instead of promoting a diversionary debate on the sale of the public refineries, the NNPCL Management should stop shielding the two foreign contractors that have breached the terms of the rehabilitation contracts.
“The EFCC should give the two contractors an ultimatum to either complete the rehabilitation of the four refineries or refund the contract sum of $2. 9 billion.
“We have also confirmed that on August 6, 2021, the Federal Executive Council approved the acquisition of 20% equity stakes in Dangote Refinery, by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for a cash consideration of US$2.76 billion.
“Since Mr. Dangote has disclosed that the NNPCL acquired only 7.2% shares in the company, tbere has been no explation from the NNPCL Management. The EFCC should equally investigate the diversion of the fund approved for the 20% shares in the Dangote Refinery.”
