Members of Nigeria’s Senate Committee on Petroleum Downstream have sharply criticised the condition of the country’s Kaduna refinery following a visit to the facility. Speaking to the media, Senator Magnus Abe (pictured) said that Kaduna was operating at below 30% of its capacity, with several plants not functioning.
Abe, who led the committee on their visit, said restoring the facility was essential. “If Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company operates at full capacity, it can refine 110 thousand barrels of crude daily and you can get Kerosene, Diesel, PMS, Bitumen and others here,” he remarked. “When we talk about the deregulation of the downstream sector, these are the kind of values we talk about, these are the kind of thing we can get here in Nigeria, the kind of money we can generate here for this country, if we run things properly in a market-driven economy.”
Responding to the committee, the refinery’s Managing Director Bolanle Ayodele said that inadequate maintenance and an irregular crude supply had led to the deterioration. Ayodele added that the management at the refinery had initiated plans for a rehabilitation.
Members of the committee will discuss the issue with Diezani Allison-Madueke, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, and Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Group Managing Director Austen Oniwon.
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