Yemisi Izuora
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and Maire Tecnimont have signed off on the $1.5 billion contract to repair the Port Harcourt Refinery.
The refinery has the capacity to process 210000 barrels per day of crude. the contract is expected to run in three phases of 18 months, 24 months and 44 months respectively. The project is expected to be funded by the NNPC, the Internally Generated Revenue, Budgetary Provisions and the AfreximBank.
The major source of concern is that although the nation’s debt to GDP ratio stands at 34 per cent, one of the lowest globally, the nation is not making enough money to service those debts. Also 93% of government revenue is currently used to service debts.
The rehabilitation of the refinery has garnered a lot of controversies as many have expressed a lack of trust and fear that the funds are going down a rabbit hole and will further deepen the debt profile of the country needlessly.
The contract was signed earlier today by the Managing Director of the Refinery, Ahmed Dikko as well as the Vice President ofTecnimont, Sub-Saharan Africa, Davide Pellizola.