The problem for Nigeria is that these refineries barely function; refining less than 24 per cent of their capacity if they work at all. They are aged and decrepit and in desperate need of maintenance. Vast sums have been spent on maintaining them but they still do not function although the contracting maintenance companies have done rather well out of these maintenance contracts. It defies belief but the Kaduna Refinery was designed to handle much heavier crude than is produced in Nigeria. For years, the refinery has actually imported large quantities of suitable paraffinic based crude oil from Venezuela, Kuwait, Oman or Saudi Arabia to be refined in Nigeria Periodically, as political pressures increased new refinery tenders were issued. The local Nigerian companies who won the tenders for this could not attract overseas firms willing to co-operate with them, nor have they been able to raise the capital […]