CONFERENCE of Nigerian Political Parties , CNPP, has
forwarded a letter to the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister
of Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, requesting for full disclosure of
transactions concerning the contract for three Greenfield refineries and
petrochemical plant awarded by President Goodluck Jonathan for $23 billion.
Spokesman of the group, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, who disclosed
this in Enugu yesterday, said the group derived its powers to demand for
the explanation from the Freedom of Information, FoI, Act.
The letter containing the request, dated March 9, 2015, and
titled, ‘Request for Information on three Greenfield refineries’, read: “May I
under the Freedom of Information Act 2011, request for the full disclosure of
transactions concerning the three Greenfield refineries and petrochemical plant
contract awarded on May 13, 2010, by President Goodluck Jonathan to Chinese
State Construction and Engineering Corporation Limited, CSCEC,, at $23 billion
meant to be located at Bayelsa, Kogi and Lagos states.
“Secondly, why are they dead on arrival as six years down
the line, neither the three Greenfield refineries nor petrochemical plant is
under construction. “The three Greenfield refineries one understands, on
completion were to add 750,000 barrels per day capacity to Nigeria’s refining
infrastructure and create over a million jobs. “In addition, the petrochemical
plant was to source natural gas from Nigeria’s gas master plan, produce
polymers, solvents and fertilizer, thus boosting food production and textile
industry.
“Accordingly, the three refineries and the petrochemical
plant could have stemmed the flood of imported refined products in the country,
hence ploughing back the over $10 billion spent annually into our economy.”
Okechukwu expressed regret that the abandonment of such critical refining
infrastructure stimulated closure of factories, crash of the naira, gross
unemployment, return of huge debt trap and fuel scarcity, to mention but a few.
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