Nigeria to halt importation of petroleum products by 2023

The Federal government has revealed that all is set to stop the importation of petroleum products into the country by 2023.

The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kyari, while signing the Condensate Refinery Strategy Programme Front End Engineering Design disclosed that the plan is expected to deliver 20 million litres of Petrol when completed.

The NNPC boss added that President Muhammadu Buhari is bothered on how an oil-producing country could be the highest importer of petroleum products in the world.

Kyari averred that it is pathetic that a country that has been producing oil for the past 50 years, still find herself in the dilemma importing petroleum products.

He emphasised that the corporation has gotten a directive from President to stop the importation of petroleum products, he added “we believe this dream will come to reality in 2023, this is not a political deadline, it is a realistic, technical deadline that we can bank on”

He listed strategies the corporation hopes to implement to achieve the deadline, including delivering functional refineries and support to partners on projects that will make gasoline available in the country.

Kyari said all effort will be put in place to make the refineries come alive, as significant work has gone into it.

He stressed that the corporation will support all their partners in order to deliver on the projects, particularly the Dangote refinery.

Kyari lamented that the upstream have not done well, as they busy exploring for oil-producing wells and that is where the condensate refinery comes in.

‘In 2017, the government planned to put an end to the importation of fuel by 2019 with the approval of a new National Oil Policy by the Federal Executive Council” he said.