Port Harcourt Refinery and the ‘ldes of August’

To historians and literature students or even scholars, the “Ides of March” is not strange to them, especially in the ancient Roman Empire,where in 44BC, Julius Caesar was assassinated by the conspirators even after a soothsayer warned him to be aware of the Ides of March.

In Nigeria restarting the Port Harcourt Refinery and indeed other three refineries has somewhat become ‘the Ides of March’,or better still Ides of August.

The reason is that after several postponements on possible commencement of production by the Port Harcourt Refinery that has been on protracted turnaround maintenance and finally zeroed down to the month of August,it has become pertinent to remind our leaders that the ‘Ides of August’ is here.

For the records, the turnaround maintenance of Port Harcourt Refinery officially started in 2021, during the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. Four years down the line, it is still ongoing,like the Ajaokuta Steel Industry project that is over forty years old and still counting. And we gathered recently that about N4.2bn has been paid to ghost workers in a non-fuctional plant.

What a news! Thanks to the House of Representatives who has opened a can of worms through its recent investigation into the Ajaokuta Steel Industry project.

 It is equally worth mentioning that this is in line with Nigerian NewsDirect’s position, that has been consistent in calling for probe of the financial transactions of this project through its incisive editorials. It is important we remain focused on this discourse,which specifically is on the resumption of production at Port Harcourt Refinery and by extension Warri and Kaduna Refineries.

It is perhaps important to remind the NNPC Ltd Top Management led by Mr Mele Kyari that the ‘Ides of August’ is here and should produce the desired result. The ‘macabre dance’ of incessant postponements has gone so long that the Dangote Refinery has joined the queue of shifting the post of dispensing fuel, popularly referred to as PMS to Nigerians.   

We cannot remember how many times the private Refinery has taken a new date of making fuel available to Nigerians,which itself is a misnomer. But what we can recall is that both NNPCL and Dangote settled for August,2024 and thank God the ‘Ides of August’ is here.

The truth is that the leadership of this great country called Nigeria has woefully failed its citizens. Otherwise, why should the four refineries in a country that produces enough crude be allowed to go out of service at the same time and the leaders are comfortable with that? Why won’t that happen, when they have found new love in importation of petroleum products at exorbitant prices at the expense of the local economy and to the penury of Nigerians?

Such unpatriotic act is striving because of the corrupt tendency of the operators who can do anything to torture their fellow Nigerians provided they are rich with ill-gotten wealth. What a country! Fed up as Nigerians have become, they collectively and simultaneously mooted the idea of organising what they called, #ENDBADGOVERNANCE’ protest. 

This same cabal involved  in milking the country dry,constituted themselves into gospel singers of ‘the protest will be hijacked by miscreants,’ so nobody should embark on such venture. If we may ask what is more criminal than a few persons hijacking the petroleum sector to the detriment of the general interest of Nigerians,who have been impoverished by such few Shylock mercantilists?

Until we tell ourselves the hard truth that is naturally bitter,we may not achieve anything. It is in this light that we commend President Ahmed Bola Tinubu for his courage in announcing the removal of the fuel subsidy, though without plan B to cushion the effect of such policy. This action though meant to liberate us,has ended up worsening the economic situation of the people.

The mistake has been made,but all hopes are not lost yet. We can still make a redress by going back to the drawing board, ‘crossing the ts and dotting the Is.’ It is often said that the only problem that has no solution is an eye that has been certified blind. Our case in Nigeria cannot be said to have gotten to that stage.

The starting point is cultivation of political will, which must come from the country’s leadership. The reason is simple, they control our commonwealth and reformation or any other scheme to alleviate our sufferings is economically driven. So the leaders have the withwithal  to undertake any venture to bring out the country from its current sorry state.

How do we start, promises made must be fulfilled. For instance, Port Harcourt Refinery billed to start production in August, which is this month must be achieved. The reason is that keeping promises, rebuilds trust and fortifies integrity. A word of a leader should be his bond,so there is no point passing the buck.

It is equally plausible to note that the President has also directed the government’s oil company, NNPC Ltd to start transacting business in Naira, our local and national currency to fortify its value. It is even unthinkable to  note that Nigerian leaders would ever authorise business transactions in foreign currency in the nation. Where has such disservice been done before? Nigerians travel far and wide,which country have they done business in Naira? There are certain things we don’t contemplate at all.

All the same, we thank God for the reawakening spirit of Mr President.

And because the ‘Ides of August’ is here, we should remind the Director-General (DG) of NNPC Ltd, Mele Kyari that the Port Harcourt Refinery must work.

The reason is that the current high cost of living, hardship, and just name it, stemmed from the oil subsidy removal. There is no way fuel price will return to normal, and  all the appendages attached to it won’t normalise and fall in place.

We don’t want to believe that a new date or month will again be taken for the resumption of production of the Port Harcourt Refinery. That would amount to betrayal of trust and failure of the highest order.  In some climes that could lead to passing a vote of no confidence on such body or government.

That should not be our portion, we pray!