“I am aware that this is not the actual number of members of this committee. You are more than this. I am also aware that the senator representing, unfortunately, my senatorial district didn’t want you to come here.
“But because you are men of integrity: the real ones who have integrity; you decided to come and do what is right. God will bless you.
“What you are doing is the right thing. Politics is a business of interest. Your worst enemy today can become your best friend tomorrow. It’s a business of interest. But the interest of the people should come first.
“Unfortunately, some people think it has to do with life or death. That is one mistake everybody makes when you take this business outside of the normal principles and rules.
“Our government has no business with politics of bitterness because we have the interest of our people at heart. We take their well-being as our priority because that is why they gave us the mandate to govern them.
“So, their interest, which is the interest of the State, comes first in our scheme of things.”
He reminded the Senators of the peaceful nature and hospitality of the state and its people and urged them to feel free to interact with the state for the mutual benefit of all stakeholders.
In his presentation, Ubah (representing Anambra South Senatorial District), said they were at Warri Refinery on Thursday and had come to Port Harcourt to investigate the work that has been done and assess the level of preparedness of both the old and new Port Harcourt Refinery to recommence operations.
He stated, “We will recall that the old Port Harcourt Refinery was the first refinery in Nigeria built in 1965 and the second one in 1989. And for so long now, they have not been in active operations.
“And with the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President, and also the desire of Nigerians and our determination; the Senate led by our President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, we had a resolution in the Senate to look at it and make sure that Nigeria’s refineries are working so that we shouldn’t be depending on importation of petroleum products.
“And that is one of the reasons that we are here, as well to look into the contract and investigate the level of compliance vis-a-vis the contract specifications.”
Continuing, Ubah said, “We are pleased to note that what we saw is most encouraging as the refinery upgrade and full rehabilitation is almost at 90 per cent completed.
“We are confident that the refinery will soon be operational before the end of the year.”
Recall that the issue of the commencement of operation at the Port Harcourt Refinery has been a ding-dong affair, as the Federal Government and the NEPAL have given conflicting dates.
