Nigeria naturally is an oil rich country, with three (3) federal government owned refineries which are Port-harcourt refinery, Wari refinery, Kaduna refinery, and Dangote refinery making it four good refineries in Nigeria.
Presently, only Dangote refinery is functional in Nigeria and the three owned federal government refineries have been short down for good number of years, not that the federal government of Nigeria can not revive those refineries, but they shot them down for political reasons. Because of the interest of the oil cabals , Nigeria now depends on fuel or petroleum products importation when we have the facilities to refine our own oil here in Nigeria.
Today, their is war between Israel and Iran, and the sea route which this importation of petroleum products takes place has been closed which is the strait of Hormuz, importation of this petroleum products is now difficult as a result of the war and Nigeria as an oil rich country that is supposed to be independent when it comes to petroleum products is now suffering fuel insufficiency and scarcity.
If all the refineries in Nigeria are working perfectly, Nigeria won't face the problem of fuel scarcity. Thee people importing these petroleum products are the ones behind the shot down of the federal government owned refineries, and i suggest since the federal government of Nigeria cannot maintain these three(3) refineries, the best thing to do is to privatize them, at least that will be a better option than keeping them to remain in silence and not working at all.
Some of your points are valid especially the part where you mentioned the importance of functioning refineries but I think it’s far more complex than just saying that everything was shut down for political reasons. Do you have a proof of that? No I suppose. Because nigeria is oil rich does not automatically protect us from global price hike. Oil prices are set globally so even if we refine locally, exchange rates and the international price will still affect what we pay. Also this same refinery issue has been happening for over many years ago and I think the major reasons are maintenance problem, mismanagement and lack of much funds not just a single or group decision made by the leaders. And even though we or they try to improve or privatize the refineries, it still doesn’t completely remove the impact of global crisis.
