Jonathan charges NIPPS on policies to revamp refineries

President Goodluck Jonathan has asked the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPPS) to come up with recommendations and policy direction on how to get the nation’s refineries to be fully operational.
The President gave the charge following other recommendations presented by the Course 34 participants, who paid a visit to the President on Thursday and congratulated him on efforts made so far on the transformation agenda for the country.
The participants had observed that, though the transformation agenda is commendable, they noted that the Nigerian economy is still over dependent on the export of crude oil and natural gas.
The President told them that the deregulation policy which many had criticised was designed to attract the private sector to the economy and this he noted, would enable the construction of new refineries in the country.
He wondered why the institute (NIPPS) was not be bold enough to recommend what the government should do to bring a turn around to the oil and gas sector to the advantage of Nigerians.
The president used the opportunity to instruct the Ministry of Education to give a grant of N50million to the institute to enable them tackle some of the administrative issues bothering the institute.