Tony Cole, the All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial candidate in the 2023 election in Rivers State, has said that having moribund refineries is a big shame for Nigeria.
Cole stated this during an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today on Tuesday.
He was commenting on the Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) Ltd, which has just commenced crude oil processing.
He said that when Nigeria fixes its refineries, business activities would improve in the country.
Cole said, “When you have refineries working, businesses will keep going. Even at Mami market you have people who may sell water. So, any kind of activity around an industrial estate is good news. That is one good thing.
“Then you move to Nigeria. I will say psychologically that over the years it has been one of the biggest shames that we are an oil producing country to have refineries that are not working. You’re in the top seven in the world (in oil production) and you don’t have working refineries. When people say you have refineries but they are not working, I think it’s a big shame for Nigeria.
“One of the things we need to do is to remove that shame from our fate. When private refineries came in that is good; but it doesn’t stop the question: what happened to your own refineries?”
Cole added that with the Port Harcourt Refining Company on board Nigeria is on the right track.
He added, “As long as the process is on, we are moving in the right direction. You have now started to move in that direction that your refinery has started to produce. What we should be pressing now is to make sure that we don’t go back to the place when we had zero production.
“On the one hand, you have Dangote refinery doing what is expected to do. You need to balance it with competition. Competition is critical. That is the only way the prices will come down.”