Jakartapost, the? website that published story about Nigeria’s plan to build three refineries in Indonesia, last week Thursday, said it goofed, LEADERSHIP can exclusively report.
A senior editor with Jakartapost, Andi Haswidi, told LEADERSHIP that “talks with Panggah Susanto, director-general for manufacturing-based industry in The Ministry of Industry, in Indonesia, revealed that the story was in fact misleading.
“He (the DG) felt that he was misquoted while speaking to reporters after attending a bilateral meeting between Nigerian industry minister and his Indonesian counterpart, M. Hidayat, last week in Jakarta,” Haswidi quoted the DG as saying.
The Jakarta editor further said: “We also spoke with the reporter who was responsible for the story. From him it was clear that Panggah referred to Nigeria when he explained investments in three refineries with each requiring Rp 8 trillion. So far we can conclude that the story is dubious. We will publish a follow-up after a meeting with Panggah. Hope that helps.”
However, Nigerian newspapers (excluding LEADERSHIP) were awash last week with reports that the Nigerian government was planning to invest Rp 24 trillion (US$2.68b/N428.8b) in Indonesia to fund the construction of three oil refineries, a report the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation declared as false.