VAM News Update
THE Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, has declared that Nigeria would stop importing fuel by 2024.
He stated this on Thursday during a visit to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas.
During the visit, Kyari blamed the fuel subsidy regime for the inactive refinery activities in Nigeria, adding that the removal of subsidy is already attracting a lot of private sector investments.
The NNPCL boss assured that by December 2023, the Port Harcourt refinery will resume operations while the Warri refinery will come on stream by the first quarter of 2024 and the Kaduna refinery will join by the end of 2024.
“I can confirm to you that by the end of December latest, we will start the Port Harcourt refinery; early in the first quarter of 2024, we will start the Warri refinery and by the end of 2024, Kaduna refinery will come into operation.
“This is the commitment we are giving today and you can hold us accountable on this; in 2024, many of the initiatives including the rehabilitation of our refineries and also the efforts of small scale refiners, and the upcoming startup of the Dangote refinery, will make Nigeria a next exporter of petroleum products in 2024.
“We will no longer be talking about fuel importation by the end of 2024, I am very optimistic that this will crystallise,” Kyari said.
Kyari said previously, the NNPC did not have a habit of publishing its financial statements but that is no longer the case and all the company’s accounts since 2018 to date are now in the public space.
He added that by the end of 2023, the expected government revenue from the company is N4.5 trillion saying that NNPCL is returning value to shareholders in line with the Petroleum Industry Act.
Kyari assured that there will be no fuel scarcity over the Christmas season and beyond as the NNPC has a robust supply plan and no one can hold the country to ransom.
