Founder of the Silverbird Group and former lawmaker, Ben Murray-Bruce, has urged President Bola Tinubu to make the rehabilitation and commercially viable operation of Nigeria’s government-owned refineries a national priority. Murray-Bruce, who represented Bayelsa East in the Senate from 2015 to 2019, made the call in a series of posts……
Founder of the Silverbird Group and former lawmaker, Ben Murray-Bruce, has urged President Bola Tinubu to make the rehabilitation and commercially viable operation of Nigeria’s government-owned refineries a national priority.
Murray-Bruce, who represented Bayelsa East in the Senate from 2015 to 2019, made the call in a series of posts on his X handle on Tuesday, expressing concern over the continued inability of the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries to operate at commercially viable levels.
He argued that Nigeria, despite its huge crude oil reserves and decades of petroleum expertise, had become “accustomed to exporting crude and importing the products refined from it.”
According to him, Nigerians are no longer interested in explanations about refinery rehabilitation, contractors and turnaround maintenance, but want to see refined petroleum products coming from the facilities.
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“We produce crude oil. We possess enormous reserves. We have decades of petroleum expertise. We have spent fortunes on refineries. Yet for years, we became accustomed to exporting crude and importing the products refined from it,” Murray-Bruce said.
“That is economic madness of the wrong kind. Now, we need madness of the right kind. Mr President, make the rehabilitation and commercially viable operation of the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries a national obsession.”
The former lawmaker urged Tinubu to appoint competent managers capable of delivering measurable results, saying the country needed people “who wake up every morning obsessed with results.”
“We need people who are prepared to become unpopular in Abuja if that is the price of becoming useful to Nigeria,” he added.
Murray-Bruce also called for an end to what he described as repeated excuses over the refineries.
“And please, no more excuses. Nigerians have heard enough explanations about turnaround maintenance, contractors, technical reviews, committees, timelines and billions spent. We want products coming out of those refineries,” he said.
He suggested that the Federal Government should consider different ownership and management structures if it could not efficiently operate the facilities itself.
“If government cannot operate them efficiently, find the structure that can. Bring in world-class technical partners. Introduce private capital where necessary. Restructure them. Concession them if that produces the best outcome. But whatever model is chosen, the objective must be brutally simple: make the refineries work,” Murray-Bruce said.
The senator cited the Dangote Refinery as evidence of what could be achieved in Nigeria’s petroleum sector, noting that the facility has a nameplate capacity of 650,000 barrels per day.
He challenged the Federal Government to set an ambitious production target for the three state-owned refineries.
“Dangote has shown what is possible on Nigerian soil. Its refinery was designed for 650,000 barrels per day and has reportedly demonstrated even higher throughput during performance testing,” he said.
Murray-Bruce proposed that the government-owned refineries should collectively target at least half of Dangote Refinery’s nameplate capacity.
“So let us establish an audacious benchmark. Mr President, let the three government-owned refining complexes target, at minimum, the equivalent of 50% of Dangote’s nameplate refining capacity, about 325,000 barrels per day of reliable, commercially viable throughput. Then push beyond it,” he said.
He said Nigeria should move beyond merely meeting domestic fuel demand and position itself as a major refining hub for the continent.
“Nigeria should not merely aspire to satisfy its domestic demand. Our ambition should be much bigger. We should become a refining powerhouse for Africa and a major exporter of refined petroleum products. And upstream, the instruction should be equally uncompromising,” he said.
Murray-Bruce also cited Central Bank Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, and National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, as examples of public officials he believes can confront entrenched interests.
He said Nigeria needed people capable of “confronting a broken system, step on powerful toes, offend entrenched interests and refuse to accept mediocrity simply because mediocrity has become normal.”
The former senator stressed that his criticism was motivated by his desire to see the Tinubu administration succeed, rather than opposition to the government.
“I write this as a supporter of your administration and as a Nigerian who wants you to succeed. But support must never become sycophancy,” he said.
“Sometimes, the greatest service a supporter can render is to tell the President what others around him may be too comfortable—or too frightened—to say,” he added.
