By Ezrel Tabiowo Abuja
Th e Senate, yesterday, slammed Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, over what it described as non-transparent process adopted by Ministry of Petroleum Resources/Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to engage ENI/NAOC and Oando as fi nanciers to rehabilitate and improve performance of Port Harcourt refi nery. Th e Senate also noted that there seemed to be lack of synergy among the NNPC, the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission and the Bureau of Public Enterprises which were invited to participate in the process after raising objections. Th ese were positions of the upper chamber while considering the report of the Senate ad hoc committee on alleged concession of Port Harcourt refi nery to ENI/ NAOC and Oando as fi nanciers to rehabilitate and improve performance of the refi nery.
Presenting the report to the chamber for consideration, the chairman of the ad-hoc committee, Senator Abubakar Kyari, said that the process to rehabilitate refi neries must be open, competitive and transparent, with the participation of all relevant stakeholders otherwise, it would be construed as backdoor transfer of the asset to a preferred investor. Th e committee recommended that the discussions with ENI/ NAOC with respect to revamping of Port Harcourt Refi nery must be discontinued forthwith and an Open, competitive and transparent process put in place to ensure that the nation derived the full benefi ts of involving private sector investors.
It also recommended that competent independent technical consultant should be engaged to review the diagnostic report (under preparation) on Port Harcourt Refi nery and recommend a suitable strategy for attracting private sector investment, taking into consideration re-appraised rehabilitation cost estimates, environmental concerns of host communities and labour issues. Th e Committee further recommended that public invitation for bids under clearly spelt out terms and conditions should be re-advertised to make the process transparent.
It further observed that there was no synergy among government agencies in the oil industry, advising that the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, NNPC, BPE and other agencies in the sector should collaborate for national interest in accordance with extant laws. Th e Senate adopted all the recommendations and stated that the issue of the oil and gas sector needed to be addressed as national emergency but in a transparent manner in order to increase revenue generation, create employment and infrastructural development.
