Rehabilitation of Nigerian refineries not aimed at reduction in petrol prices – NNPCL GCEO 

NNPC Limited Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) Mele Kyari has clarified that the primary goal of rehabilitating the nation’s refineries is not to reduce petrol prices.

 

The NNPCL boss made the comment while appearing before a joint Senate committee.

 

Mr. Kyari’s statement comes in response to questioning by the committee, particularly regarding the potential impact of functional refineries on petrol prices. While acknowledging the possibility of a price decrease, he stressed that this was not the main objective.

 

Kyari further said the NNPC does not charge subsidies to the federation and, instead, has contributed ₦4.45 trillion directly to the federal account through various taxes, royalties, and dividends. According to him, ₦406 billion were paid as dividends to the Federal Government’s account since July 2023.

 

However, he acknowledged the lack of reliable data on national petrol consumption due to inadequate measuring instruments.

 

“While Dangote’s refinery win was never really about reduction in price, it was about the multiplier effect of a $20 billion dollar investment in the economy.”

 

According to him, the benefits include:

 

– helps in naira stability by increasing forex inflow

 

– thousands of direct and indirect jobs to be created

 

– multiplier effect on the “Petroleum chemical and manufacturing industry

 

– the contagion effect to attract investment of equal proportion($20 billion) or more

 

– act as catalyst to capital expenditure in our oil and gas sector.

 

– more tax revenue to FG and Lagos state

 

– increase in foreign reserves

 

“I can go on, the benefit is endless.”