Former senator representing Bayelsa East senatorial district, Ben Murray-Bruce, has asked President Bola Tinubu to appoint more ‘mad men’ obsessed with getting results in his administration.
The former senator charged the president to make the rehabilitation and commercially viable operation of Nigeria’s government-owned refineries a “national obsession”.
Recall that Tinubu had last week said his administration is committed to restoring refineries to productive capacity and ensuring their profitability.
In a post on X on Tuesday, Murray-Bruce said Nigeria needs “mad men” in government who would confront entrenched interests, challenge bureaucracy and pursue results without fear of becoming unpopular.
“Mr President, Nigeria needs more mad men in your government,” he said.
“And before anybody deliberately misunderstands me, let me explain what I mean by mad men.
“I mean men and women who are crazy enough to confront a broken system, step on powerful toes, offend entrenched interests and refuse to accept mediocrity simply because mediocrity has become normal.
He said the country needs such leadership in the petroleum sector to revive the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries and increase crude oil production.
“Mr President, make the rehabilitation and commercially viable operation of the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries a national obsession,” he said.
“And please, no more excuses. Nigerians have heard enough explanations about turnaround maintenance, contractors, technical reviews, committees, timelines and billions spent. We want products coming out of those refineries.”
Murray-Bruce said the government should be willing to consider different ownership and management models if they would make the refineries commercially viable.
“If government cannot operate them efficiently, find the structure that can. Bring in world-class technical partners. Introduce private capital where necessary. Restructure them. Concession them if that produces the best outcome,” he said.
“But whatever model is chosen, the objective must be brutally simple: MAKE THE REFINERIES WORK.”
He cited the Dangote refinery as evidence that large-scale refining was possible in Nigeria, saying the facility had a nameplate capacity of 650,000 barrels per day.
Murray-Bruce proposed that the three government-owned refineries should target, at minimum, the equivalent of 50 percent of Dangote’s nameplate capacity — about 325,000 barrels per day — in reliable and commercially viable throughput.
He also urged Tinubu to appoint a person capable of driving the administration’s ambition to raise crude oil production to four million barrels per day by 2030.
“Find somebody who considers 1.5 million barrels unacceptable when the national ambition is 4 million,” he said.
The former senator said such a person should confront oil theft, bureaucratic delays and other obstacles to increased production while attracting investment and unlocking dormant assets.
“I don’t want another committee chairman. I want a mad man. I don’t want somebody who will spend four years explaining why something cannot be done. I want somebody crazy enough to do it,” he said.
Murray-Bruce described Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and Nuhu Ribadu, national security adviser, as examples of the kind of officials he believes Tinubu needs in his administration.
“Two mad men are not enough for a country of more than 200 million people,” he said, urging the president to appoint more officials who are “obsessed with results”..
“Four million barrels per day. Working refineries. A Nigeria that refines its own crude and exports petroleum products to the world. No excuses. No clowns. No passengers. Only results,” he added.
