Tinubu Pledges Refinery Revival, Condemns Waste In Operations

President Bola Tinubu on Thursday said his administration would revive moribund refineries. He, however, warned that their success would be based on productivity and not mere activities, as obtainable in the past.

Tinubu stated this when he received the Executive President of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) Salimon Oladiti, and members of the union at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Thursday.

Addressing the delegation’s concerns about the long-delayed revival of Nigeria’s state-owned refineries directly, the President said, “The refineries you mentioned are going to come back to work. We’re just building a very firm reset and structural reworking of the economy.

“Ordinary flame and smoke of a refinery doesn’t mean it’s working, until it’s profitable and yields the value for which it is built.”

Tinubu also urged vehicle and truck owners who have converted to Compressed Natural Gas to pass on the resulting cost savings to commuters, rather than pocketing the full benefit themselves.

He said, “We will do more. We will encourage you, but ask your drivers to let it trickle to the commuters too, because whatever benefit that is coming from CNG is going into the pocket of truck owners. It’s not spreading as fast as I would like it, but it should spread.”

He tied both commitments to the wider fiscal reset his administration has pursued since 2023, telling the union that the funding now available for major road infrastructure was a direct product of that reform.

“I’m glad you have seen the effect of being able to find funding for long-term projects, the Lagos-Ibadan Road, Abuja-Kaduna, Abuja-Kano, Sokoto-Badagry and many other road networks, all for the good of us, the good of our economy and the safety of our people,” he stated.

Recalling a tense…