Is there hope for the downstream sector?

They promised us that come May 2016, irregularities in the downstream sector would be a thing of the past. All the refineries would be working to full and Nigerians would enjoy abundance of petroleum products at affordable prices with queues at the filling stations disappearing never to be experienced anymore.
At some point it was argued, that it was cheaper to import fuel rather than to produce fuel. But we know that food cooked at home is ten times better than food cooked outside. It is still  on record how the waste product of a refinery was imported into the country as standard consumable fuel. The damage this fuel caused to car engines is better imagined than said.
Now they are singing a new tune about the status of the three refineries in the country. They might not be working to full capacity in May. Listening to the junior minister's press statement where he listed their successes so far in the downstream sector and pleaded with Nigerians to be patient, that it is still work in progress. But in our patience what did we get? Government announced the complete removal of fuel subsidy and pump price of petroleum sky rocketed from N86.5/litre to N145/litre. This development has induced more hardship on Nigerians in the mist of existing ones like no electricity supply(black out), bad roads, inflation, unemployment, poor health care e.t.c.
Also in a press statement, the minister for information an culture said, "Dangote refinery would bring about the long lasting solution needed to fuel scarcity crises in the country." This implies that government effort to revive all the refineries would still not bring about the relief that we expected. This has further rubbished government promises to bring the problems affecting the downstream sector to an end soonest. The question now is when would Dangote refinery finally come on board? For how long would Nigerians have to wait for things to get well with the downstream sector? Can Nigerians continue to put their trust and hope on this government? Only time can answer all of these.



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