Former Minister of Communications, Major General Tajudeen Olanrewaju (Rtd), has backed the President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, on the claim that Nigeria’s state-owned refineries may never function properly again, despite the reported $18 billion spent on their rehabilitation.

Recall that Dangote stated this while hosting members of the Global CEO Africa, who visited the Dangote Refinery, saying that the turnaround maintenance, being repeatedly carried out, was like trying to modernise a car that was built 40 years ago, when technology and everything had changed.

According to Dangote, his decision to construct the 650,000-barrel-per-day facility followed the late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua administration’s refusal to sell the government refineries to him.

This was just as he recalled that he and other investors had acquired the refineries in Nigeria in January 2007 but were compelled to return them to government ownership after a change in administration, sadly noting that the affected refineries had become moribund despite significant subsequent investments.

Olanrewaju, who was also the Chairman, Presidential Review Committee on General Emmanuel Abisoye Panel on NNPC Reforms (1995) during the General Sani Abacha era, in his reaction, affirmed that “Dangote was right with his view, saying that was one of the recommendations in General Abisoye’s Report on NNPC Inquiry in 1995.”

Olanrewaju said that was equally the position his Committee reached on the subject matter, adding that he fathomed the way I don’t know what the way forward “given the long time it had taken to allow the refineries lay waste.”

“Dangote was right. That was one of the recommendations in General Abisoye’s Report on NNPC Inquiry in 1995. My Committee reviewed the report and reached the same conclusion. I don’t know what the way forward could be given the long time it had taken to allow the refineries to lay waste,” he said.

The former minister insisted that disposing of the refineries was one of the recommendations in General Abisoye’s Report on NNPC Inquiry in 1995, pointing out that Dangote was only reaffirming what his committee had recommended 30 years ago.

Olanrewaju, who had in 2012 press interview, suggested that the government should hands off the refineries but could hold certain share like 20 percent stake, while individual citizens should be made to also buy shares without creating a moneybag situation that would hold the country into ransom on the long run, said the earlier the better for the state-owned refineries to be sold off to indigenous private investors who can turn them around to make them work. (Saturday Tribune)