President Muhammadu Buhari has given the assurance that income accruing to the country from rising oil prices in the international market will be spent on infrastructure development.
The president made the pledge on Friday when he received a delegation from Eni.
The delegation, according to a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, was led by the Chief Upstream Officer, Mr Antonio Vella.
Buhari said projects like roads, rail and power would benefit from the income in order to ensure the development of the country for the good of the people.
It would be recalled that 2018 budget provisions had been predicated on $45 per barrel by the Executive, and the Senate had adjusted it to $47 per barrel.
Oil prices have, however, risen to over $70 per barrel, this week.
President Buhari expressed gratitude to Eni for its upcoming investments in the oil industry, which included rehabilitation of Port Harcourt refinery, and the building of a new one.
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His words: “In my first coming, all our refineries were working. Port Harcourt used to refine 60,000 barrels per day, and it was later upgraded to 100,000 barrels. Kaduna and Warri were also working optimally, and we used to satisfy the demand of the local market.
“We equally exported 100,000 barrels of refined petrol. Now, no refinery is performing up to 50%. It is a disgraceful thing.”
Speaking during the visit, the leader of the Eni delegation, Vella, said his organisation had presented a technical proposal to the NNPC to rehabilitate the Port Harcourt refinery.
He added that feasibility study had already been carried out on a new refinery of up to 150,000 barrels per day capacity.
According to him, “Site selection has been completed, and 50 new graduates have already arrived in Italy for a training that will last seven months.
“There are other upstream initiatives, and a deep water project, with estimated expenditure of $13 billion.”
The oil company also plans to double power generation capacity from its plant in Delta State from its present 500 MW to 1,000 MW, spending $750 million in the process