A popular Nigerian economist, Kelvin Emmanuel, has said that the Port Harcourt refinery is dead on arrival and cannot be brought back to life.

Emmanuel disclosed this during an interview with Channels Television on Monday.

He spoke when asked if the coming up on stream of government-owned refineries such as Port Harcourt will impact the high petrol price in Nigeria.

Emmanuel, however, stressed that Port Harcourt Refinery died and was in comatose.

According to him, the government should consider Port Harcourt Refinery and others as dead assets.

“Government-owned refineries died on arrival. The government over the last 60 years has not proven to have the capacity to manage its refineries.

“They are dead and are not going to come back to life. Port Harcourt refinery, a subsidiary of NNPCL, had promised deadlines—more than eight deadlines—but nothing has been heard. Maybe they will convert to a blending plant to blend off-spec petrol. The government should forget about it,” he said.

This comes as Port Harcourt refinery, with a combined capacity of 250 barrels per day, had failed to come up on stream despite several promises of its commencement by NNPCL.

Nigerians currently buy petrol at a high price between N1060 and N1,200 per litre across filling stations in the country.

Petrol price: Port Harcourt refinery dead on arrival — Economist Emmanuel