The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, will no longer be involved in the management of the nation’s refineries after their rehabilitation.
This was disclosed on Wednesday by the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mele Kyari.
Kyare said upon completion of the ongoing rehabilitation exercise of refineries, the services of a company would be procured to manage the plants on an Operations and Maintenance (O&M) basis.
He explained that the plan, ultimately, is to get private partners to invest in the refineries and get them to run on the NLNG model where the shareholders would be free to decide the fate of the refineries going forward.
Kyari stated that this model, which is totally different from previous approach, would guarantee the desired outcome for the refineries.
He explained that the removal of subsidy would automatically correct the distortions it created in the market such as products arbitrage and smuggling, stressing that it would also provide the needed impetus for the NNPC to establish retail outlets in neighbouring countries.
On the agitation in some quarters for a reduction in the price of kerosene, he said the corporation’s focus was rather on how to migrate all those who were still using kerosene for domestic cooking to the use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) which is popularly referred to as cooking gas.
According to him, apart from LPG being a cheaper fuel than kerosene, it is also safer and more environment-friendly.
He said the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, was championing policies to deepen the adoption of LPG for domestic consumption, adding that widespread adoption of LPG usage was the best solution to kerosene supply challenges in the long term.