Were I in President Bola Tinubu’s shoes, I would reassign Nyesom Wike, moving him away from peaceful people and give him the busy job of sorting out the Port Harcourt refinery

Ayo Akinfe

[1] I would give Wike the authority to consider selling the refinery to a steel company at a giveaway price. The idea behind this would be to convert the facility into a manufacturing plant. Just imagine how Tata Steel, Corus Steel or Nippon Steel would love the gift of a readymade plant

[2] Wike would also be empowered to invite oil companies to come and buy tge refinery and convert into a facility that can rival Dangote’s Lekki plant. Dangote’s facility can meet all Nigeria’s domestic needs, so the NNPC no longer has any business running refineries. All competition should now be private

[3] Wike would also be free to invite Innoson Motors to take over the refinery and begin production of a new brand of vehicle there. Maybe even get them to buy the rights to the Volkswagen Beetle and start manufacturing from there

[4] He should also ask energy companies to bid for the facility and convert it into a gas-fired power plant

[5] Given its location, Wike should try and woo shipbuilders to purchase the facility too. Nigeria had 853km of prime Atlantic coastline and it is criminal that we are not a maritime manufacturer

[6] There is no reason why Wike cannot invite Pfizer or AstraZeneca to take over the Port Harcourt refinery and use it as a site to manufacture Covid-19 vaccines for global distribution

[7] He can also invite energy companies to purchase the facility and manufacture electricity transformers there

[8] In response to the herdsmen problem, Wike can also sell the refinery to an animal feed compounding company, making it the centrepiece of the government’s animal husbandry programme

[9] Other options include inviting automobile companies like Toyota, Nissan, Ford, General Motors, Renault, Fiat, etc to take it over and manufacture one of their components there. Make Port Harcourt a global production centre for one car component

[10] There is also no reason why Wike cannot invite the Chinese companies currently supplying Nigeria with railway carriages to purchase this refinery and start manufacturing engines and train cars there

ayoakinfe@gmail.com