By the end of December 2023, it is anticipated that the oldest refinery in Nigeria, the Port Harcourt Refinery, which is situated in Eleme, Port Harcourt, in the nation’s south-south, will be fully operational again.
According to Ibrahim Onoja, Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Refinery, 3000 workers worked nonstop to complete the project on schedule.
According to him, “the resuscitation of the refinery was done to achieve a common goal, despite global challenges.”
The Russian-Ukrainian War, the COVID-19 pandemic, and other uncontrollable circumstances posed significant obstacles to the Port Harcourt refinery’s reconstruction.
In April 2021, the 53-year-old refinery underwent a comprehensive makeover..
He stated that “currently, tanks, boilers, and metal columns have been refurbished. From piping to welding, 85 percent work has been completed.”
Ibrahim Onoja gave Nigerians hope that the refinery would help them with their crippling prices and fuel imports by producing petroleum products at reasonable costs.
Prices for petroleum products have been rising since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s inauguration day, when the petroleum subsidy was removed. This has had an impact on goods and services throughout the nation.
Since then, the president has implemented a number of incentives to lessen the impact of the elimination of fuel subsidies. These consist of paying state governments with different special funds, giving vulnerable individuals cash transfers of N25,000, awarding federal workers N35,000 in wages for a six-month period, and providing CNG buses for public transportation, among other things.
The Tinubu administration’s pledge to give Nigerians reliable and reasonably priced petroleum products by the end of December 2023 will be fulfilled when the Port Harcourt refinery is fully operational.
Additionally, the Dangote Group-owned private refinery is anticipated to begin full operations this month.
