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The Senate Ad-Hoc Committee to Investigate the Turnaround Maintenance of Nigeria’s Refineries has said the Port Harcourt Refinery will begin operation before the end of December.
This is as the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has stated that his administration is working in tandem with President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government’s policies designed to make life better for Nigerians through the Renewed Hope Agenda.
Fubara noted that, in doing so, the Woji-Aleto-Alesa-Refinery Road, now 70 percent completed, was being constructed to provide a bypass to easily access the Port Harcourt Refinery and take off traffic from the East-West Road.
He made the remark when members of the Senate Ad-Hoc Committee to Investigate the Turnaround Maintenance of Nigeria’s Refineries, led by their Chairman, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, paid him a courtesy visit at the Government House in Port Harcourt on Friday.
This was contained in a statement issued in Port Harcourt on Saturday by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Nelson Chukwudi.
The governor said the purpose of governance was to make life easy for the people. He expressed delight that the Senate Committee’s investigation would make life easy and meaningful for Nigerians.
The statement read, “We, as a state, before the commencement of the rehabilitation job, had a contribution that we wanted to make to support the work at the refinery because of the deplorable state of the East-West Road.
Fubara pointed to the derivable benefits when the refinery is eventually revamped and becomes operational, both to the Federal Government and host, Rivers State.
He added, “When the refinery restarts production, petroleum products will be available locally. The issue of importation will go down.
“We will now make an impact, the economy will grow, and internally generated revenue will increase. More projects will be executed in this state. You can see that it’s a chain effect thing. So, I want to thank you. ”
Fubara reiterated the obvious: “We might be a state, as being presented, that we have issues. But we don’t have any issues. Our eyes are on the ball to deliver for our people.
“Even in the face of this deliberate distraction, we will not fail our people because, in the end, it is the impact we make on our people that counts.”
In his presentation, Ubah (representing Anambra South Senatorial District), said they were at Warri Refinery on Thursday and had come to Port Harcourt to investigate the work that has been done and assess the level of preparedness of both the old and new Port Harcourt Refinery to recommence operations.
He stated, “We will recall that the old Port Harcourt Refinery was the first refinery in Nigeria built in 1965 and the second one in 1989. And for so long now, they have not been in active operations.
“And with the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President, and also the desire of Nigerians and our determination, the Senate led by our President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, we had a resolution in the Senate to look at it and make sure that Nigeria’s refineries are working so that we shouldn’t depend on importation of petroleum products.
“And that is one of the reasons that we are here, as well to look into the contract and investigate the level of compliance vis-a-vis the contract specifications.”
Ubah said, “We are pleased to note that what we saw is most encouraging as the refinery upgrade and full rehabilitation is almost at 90 percent completed.
“We are confident that the refinery will soon be operational before the end of the year. ”
