The Federal Government of Nigeria said on Tuesday that a group of South Korean businessmen had completed plans to construct four refineries with a capacity of 100,000 barrels each, located in different parts of the country.
Heineken Lokpobiri, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), made this statement during the inaugural Crude Oil Refineries Owners Association of Nigeria meeting in Lagos.
He claims that by creating an inclusive atmosphere, the federal government is luring investors to construct refineries.
He spoke further saying, “We will ensure the deregulation of the downstream sector is 100 per cent and put in place a necessary framework that will ease the impact on the poor masses.
The ministry has facilitated easier access to existing tax and other exemptions on refinery equipment importation, which is part of our plan to make Nigeria self-sufficient for petroleum producers and become Africa’s petroleum refining hub.”
Lokpobiri also said though the PIA created the petroleum ministry and National Gas Infrastructure Fund, which sources its funds from the sales of petroleum products in-country, the thought of the ministry was that a portion of the fund is used to support infrastructural development for refineries, like in the gas value chain.
In his words “In no distant time, we intend to create the apprenticeship programme in collaboration with existing refineries to develop expertise in our refinery operations,” he disclosed.
