NNPC should think better of their $1bn loan

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is shopping for a

loan of $1bn to revamp Port Harcourt refinery. That in itself is not a bad thing. 

There is a market for refined crude and for now, we are in the business of importing refined product.

The problem is that, for years the Port Harcourt refinery like others in the country have always been refurbished with nothing to show for it.

What then has changed? What is the assurance that things would take a better turn now? If this were to be 2015 when PMB came to office on the strength of his anti corruption past, it would have been understandable expecting a change as promised.

But this is 2021 and Nigerians cannot wait to see the PMB regime end. Promises have been repeatedly broken and new bars for corruption set.

To say that PMB is a monumental disappointment is stating the obvious. Better use can be found for the $1bn. That it is a loan makes it doubly important that it be put to good use. Spending it on yet another refinery is like throwing water down the hill.

The times are just not auspicious for frivolous spending. Spending on the Port Harcourt refinery is going by antecedents a frivolous venture.