Fact-Check: Did FG Approve $2.5 billion for rehabilitation of Port Harcourt Refinery in 2020?

Fact-Check: Did FG Approve $2.5 billion for rehabilitation of Port Harcourt Refinery in 2020?

Claim:

A recent WhatsApp message claims that in the year 2020, the sum of 2.5 billion dollars was provided for rehabilitation of Port Harcourt refinery. 

Full text:

The text which is now trending as comment on WhatsApp and Facebook reads, “My brother,  I was just reliably informed that in 2020, the sum of 2.5 billion dollars was provided for rehabilitation of Port Harcourt refinery. What is the update? How come we are experiencing the current fuel crisis?” 

Verification:

PRNigeria conducted a keyword search and results from previous credible media reports shows that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) proposed the sum of  $2.5 billion for rehabilitation of Port Harcourt Refinery, but after the screening by Kyari led committee of NNPC, the money was reduced to $1.5 billion for rehabilitation which was later presented to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for approval and was eventually granted.

The project was expected to be handled by Italian based company known as Tecnimont SPA for the period of 44 months. It was also gathered that the government had made an initial payment of $194m, which is equivalent to about 74, 870,420,000 Naira being the 15 per cent advance payment required for the rehabilitation of the facility to Tecnimont SpA of Italy. Besides the given amount, there’s no public record that indicates the release of more funds for the project since then. 

The project is expected to take a total completion period of 44months which has been effective since April 6, 2021 according to publicly available record. However, this has been moving at a snail speed based on media report.

Conclusion:

From all available fact and evidence gathered by PRNigeria, the FG approved $1.5 billion for the rehabilitation of Port Harcourt Refinery.

Therefore, the claim that $2.5bn was approved for the project is FALSE.