By Yemie Adeoye
DUE to the deplorable state of Nigerian refineries, the Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Downstream Petroleum, Hon. Dakuku Peterside, has called on private investors to take advantage of the opportunities in Nigeria’s refining sector.

Peterside made the call at the Nigeria Refining Capacity Summit held in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital recently.

Nigeria, according to him, represents the best potential market for petroleum products in Africa, adding that the two-day summit was particularly rewarding as participants from the industry shared information and knowledge on Nigeria’s market potential and the challenges facing the country in the area of petroleum products needs.

“I can assure you that this summit provided us opportunity to ask and answer some very critical national questions that have militated against the attainment of self sufficiency in petroleum products refining in our country,” he said.

Peterside argued that the dividends of the summit will become manifest in the days, as, “We have asked questions bordering on these limiting factors. For instance, why is it that none of the 20 private refineries that received their licenses since 2000 were yet to become operational. We also raised issues around the effect of our prevailing economic environment on investment in refineries.”

The summit, which was declared open by Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Speaker of the House of Representatives, also challenged the assumption that if the downstream sector was deregulated, investments will immediately flow automatically.

There were also sessions that examined economic models used in other climes to attain self sufficiency in petroleum products and the business creativity, regulatory reform and legislative engineering needed for robust downstream development.