Privatize Nigeria’s refineries, PENGASSAN tells FG

The President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Festus Osifo has called on the Federal Government to urgently fix the four national refineries and divest the majority share in the facilities to the private sector.
Fielding questions from newsmen at the official presentation of the PENGASSAN communique issued arising from its 2024 PENGASSAN Energy and Labour Summit to the media in Lagos on Friday, Osifo said the country’s refineries should be modelled after the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) model, which appears to have been successful.
“Ramping up efforts to make the nation’s four refineries work once operational, the government should divest majority shareholdings and own at most 49 percent of the shareholding in the four refineries. Core investors will be brought in to take the 51 percent as applicable in NLNG.”
Osifo regretted that the inter-land petroleum depots in six geopolitical zones of the country are dilapidated and stressed the need for the government to get the depots fixed in collaboration with the private sector to ensure the smooth distribution of petroleum products and enhance the national strategic reserve.
PENGASSAN also called for the expansion of pipelines that could be used in the delivery of refined petroleum products across the length and breadth of the country as this would reduce the pressure put on the roads by trucks carrying petroleum products.