The presidency has told former President Olusegun Obasanjo that his words can’t be relied upon to make decisions regarding the nation’s refineries because he is not an engineer or a specialist in such fields.
According to the presidency, what Obasanjo said is his personal opinion and nothing more.
The statement from the presidency comes as a direct response to the recent comment made by Obasanjo, stating that Nigeria’s refineries would never function efficiently as long as they remained under government ownership.
He said this during an interview with The Cable while reacting to the promise by the government of President Bola Tinubu that the petroleum refinery in Port Harcourt, Rivers State would be functional again by the end of 2023.
“Someone told me Tinubu said refineries would work by December. I told the person the refineries would not work. This is based on the information I received from Shell when I was president,” the former President had said.
However, the Senior Special Assistant to President Tinubu on Media and Publicity, Tope Ajayi, says Obasanjo should wait till December and see what happens.
He added that Tinubu relied on the projection of engineers to make the statement.
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“Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, with due respect to him, is not an engineer. He’s not the engineer working at the refineries. So, the engineers and the NNPC gave the president a report and they have said that it will work by December this year,” Ajayi said while speaking on Daily Trust space themed: ‘Analysing the First 100 Days of President Tinubu’.
“We still have like four months to go. I will say that with all due respect to the former president, who is an elder statesman and our father, that what he said is his personal opinion and view. I will rather rely on the judgment of the engineers who are working at the refinery. So, I think we should wait until December.”
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