The refineries should be sold at one dollar!

Recent pronouncement credited to the petroleum ministry on the state of the country's refineries is a pointer to these allusions. Odein Ajumogobia, minister of state for energy (petroleum) is quoted as saying that the December deadline for the rehabilitation of the nation's refineries may not be feasible after all since it's just a month away.

This development exposes the ugly fact that for the umpteenth time, we are placing the cart before the horse and very often at the detriment of the nation.

The ministry and government functionaries may have just realised the enormity of the task involved in the rehabilitation of the refineries. They might have just realised that reactivating the already moribund refineries would require high technical and financial inputs which they never expected as they tried to assure Nigerians the refineries would be ready by December. This is a shame and highly regrettable. It is a shame that we can no longer carry out a simple and reliable feasibility studies that will underpin the viability of projects.

The story of the nation's refineries in the immediate past is most untoward. Few weeks into the life of the present administration and in response to public outcry, the president revoked the sale of the nation's refineries earlier sold to a consortium Bluestar Oil.

Though a brave decision, it nonetheless puts Nigeria's refining sector back to square one.

Bluestar Oil is comprised of three of the largest domestic companies; Dangote Oil which has a 55 percent stake in the consotium, Zenon Oil 25 percent and Transcorp 5 percent with the Rivers State government also holding a 15 percent stake. In May, in the final days of the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo, Bluestar purchased the Port Harcourt refinery and the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Co. Ltd (KPRC). But their ownership was shortlived as the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), was accused by labour unions of ignoring due process in the sale of the refineries.

Unfortunately, the downside of the inability to fix the refineries on time is that it has impugned on the integrity of those managing the refineries. Secondly it highlights the begging need to fast track the country's privatisation process.

This is why we insist that the reversal of the sale has not only put the privatisation process in reverse gear but is capable of sending negative signals to the international community whom we do business with.

The situation is worrisome and unjustifiable when juxtaposed against the background that it is the same people who mismanaged the refineries that still made promises of its rehabilitation without putting all the factors into consideration. For how long shall we continue with this rigmarole?

We believe and strongly too that government's reversal of the sale is hasty. The refineries must be sold of even at $1. Investment public funds into the refineries would amount to a colossal waste because government cannot manage the refineries.

Moreover, the situation at the refineries queries our maturity and ability to handle delicate matters that require consistency and honesty of purpose.

We must prove enemies of this country wrong. We can not emphasise enough the value of confidence on an economy. Once there is confidence on the system, foreign investments waiting in the sidelines would pour in. This is inevitable as this is such a huge market where the return on investment is about the highest in the world.

The flood of foreign investment would have a ripple effect on local businesses and indeed small businesses. What better way to fight poverty?

The need to extricate our beloved country from the clutches of poverty accentuated by unbridled actions of bureaucrats angling for cheap public funds is ridiculous and an affront to the sensibilities of discerning Nigerians.

We certainly do not have any confidence in the ability of the authorities in the petroleum ministry to manage the refineries as they have already started to fail. The dilapidated refineries must be sold to the highest bidder in a more transparent manner if the problem is with the process threw up the last purchaser it could still be reviewed in a manner that will engender transparency.