Abuja—Governor Ikedi Ohakim of Imo State has said the state will partner with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, to establish a refinery.

NNPC Head of Public Affairs, Dr Levi Ajuonuma, quoted Ohakim in a statement in Abuja, weekend as soliciting the support when he visited the corporation’s Group Managing Director, Mr Austen Oniwon.

Ohakim said the establishment of the refinery would boost the economy of the state which, he noted, had the highest number of unemployed graduates in the country.

“I have come here to see you on a single agenda and that is the Imo refinery project.

“We want to resurrect this project and iron out modalities on how the state will partner with the corporation in establishing a Greenfield refinery in Imo.

“We want to eliminate any bottleneck or any likely bureaucracy that may come in the way of the proposed refinery,” the governor said.

He said the refinery would create jobs for the teeming unemployed youths in the state, noting that Imo had in the last 10 years recorded the highest number of university applicants in the country.

Ohakim pledged to provide adequate security for all NNPC installations in the state, saying his administration had invested more than N6 billion on the security of lives and property.

He stressed the need for total deregulation of the petroleum sector by the Federal Government and urged it to implement the policy without delay.