Nigeria and the Niger Republic have agreed to construct a refinery in a border town located between both countries and close to Katsina State.

According to the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, an agreement was reached between both nations to build the facility and for the construction of a crude oil pipeline from the Niger Republic to the new refinery.

Several tweets posted on the Twitter handle of the ministry on Thursday stated that the mutually beneficial deal was reached between both countries on Wednesday when the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, led a delegation to Niger.

The FMPR tweeted, “Today, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, met with the President of the Republic of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, and the Energy Minister of the Republic of Niger, Mr. Foumakoye Gado.

“Mutually beneficial agreement was reached for the construction of a refinery in the border town between the Republic of Niger and Katsina, Nigeria, and a crude oil pipeline from the Republic of Niger to the new refinery. Bilateral/technical agreements to be signed in coming days.”

This was further confirmed by Kachikwu in separate Twitter messages on Thursday.

Kachikwu said, “In line with the commitment to collaboratively work across the region to ensure definitive solutions to sector challenges, I thank the President of Republic of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, and my Energy counterpart, Foumakoye Gado, for acceding to this mutually beneficial agreement.

“This will be expressed through the construction of a refinery in the border town between the Republic of Niger and Katsina State, Nigeria, and a crude oil pipeline from the Republic of Niger to the new refinery. Bilateral and technical agreements will be signed in coming days.”

But some Twitter followers of the minister condemned the move, as they wondered why the government had refused to fix the country’s refineries before embarking on the construction of another plant in the border town between both countries.

A Twitter user, Margaret Okojokwu, said, “Refineries in the border town between Kastina and Niger Republic? Good initiative but can we please get the other refineries working?

Another user, Nwokorobia Chibueze, tweeted, “PMB is a joke, now the President and minister of Katsina.”

A follower of the minister on Twitter, Hay, asked, “And what becomes the fate of the other four existing refineries?”

This is coming as the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative on Thursday urged the National Assembly to use the findings in its audit reports to push for wider reforms in the oil and gas industry.