The Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) has blamed inadequate funding as the reason for the delay in the rehabilitation of the nations refineries.
The Group Managing Director, refineries, Mustapha Yakubu made the claim at an investigative hearing organised by the House of Representatives adhoc committee on state of the Nations refineries.
According to Mr Yakubu, paucity of funds necessitated the award of only the Port Harcourt refinery at the cost of $1.3 billion.
The chairman of the committee, Abdul Ganiyu Johnson, who reiterated the commitment of the legislature to ensure accountability of public funds, said the refineries must be rehabilitated for optimal performance.
Some of the lawmakers present at the hearing decried the discrepancies in figures, duplication of contracts and high cost of contracts submitted by NNPC.
The meeting was adjourned to enable the lawmakers study the documents submitted by the NNPC and other invited stakeholders.
Reporting by Ibrahim Shehu; Editing by Daniel Adejo and Tony Okerafor