Group demands sack of Mele Kyari over failure to fix Warri, Port Harcourt Refineries,

By Kumo Agbere

A coalition of Niger Delta Oil-Producing Ethnic national­ities has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to swiftly revive the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries just as they insisted that this action is essential for the economic well-being of the region.

More than 300 members of the coalition gathered at the NNPCL Zonal Office in Warri, Delta State, which houses Nigeri­an Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Author­ity (NMDPRA) and Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regula­tory Commission (NUPRC) on Friday to protest the neglect of the refineries by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).

Emmanuel F. Pathfinder, President and National Coor­dinator of the coalition led the protest, they called on President Tinubu to support local refin­eries, including the Dangote Refinery to reduce Nigeria’s de­pendence on fuel imports.

In a protest letter, the group called on President Tinubu to implement the National Execu­tive Council’s (NEC) resolution for NNPCL to sell crude oil to Dangote Refinery in naira to help lower fuel prices for Nigerians.

According to the group, “we are calling on President Tinubu to overhaul NNPCL and remove corrupt officials who are collud­ing with oil cabals to keep our refineries down.

“This protest is our way of expressing discontent over the abandonment of the Port Har­court and Warri refineries. NNP­CL’s involvement with certain oil cabals, who profit billions from fuel importation, must stop.”

The group further alleged that an oil cabal is working to obstruct efforts to end fuel im­portation, claiming these actions continue under the supervision of NNPCL’s Group Chief Execu­tive Officer, Mele Kyari.

“It’s troubling that Kyari has failed to reactivate Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, while seem­ingly supporting the interests of import-dependent cabals. We commend Alhaji Aliko Dangote recent efforts with a 650,000-bar­rel-per-day refinery in Lagos.”