FG Under Fire As NNPC Confirms Refineries Not Working

Opposition leaders on Saturday criticised President Bola Tinubu’s administration following remarks by the leadership of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, which cast serious doubt on the viability of the country’s refineries despite the billions invested in their rehabilitation.

On Thursday, the President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, stated that the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries might never resume operations, even after about $18bn had been spent on their turnaround.

On Friday, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPCL, Bayo Ojulari, echoed similar concerns, revealing that the company was now considering selling off the refineries as years of rehabilitation had failed to yield meaningful results due to the facilities’ outdated status.

Ojulari made the disclosure in an interview with Bloomberg in Vienna, Austria, noting that the country had invested heavily without any tangible outcome.

Reacting in separate interviews on Saturday, some opposition leaders tackled the Tinubu administration, demanding a thorough criminal investigation into the alleged corruption linked to the failed turnaround maintenance of the refineries.

They argued that the government cannot simply move on without identifying and prosecuting those responsible for the massive losses.

The leaders also accused both the current administration and its predecessor under Muhammadu Buhari of misleading Nigerians about the operational status of the refineries.

Ojulari took over from Mele Kyari as the GCEO of the NNPCL on April 2, 2025, following an appointment by President Bola Tinubu. The new NNPC helmsman’s approach brings a shift in tone from the previous leadership.

In 2019, Kyari had assured Nigerians that the NNPC would deliver the country’s four refineries before the end of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure on May 29, 2023.

However, Ojulari’s comments on Thursday stood in sharp contrast to those of his predecessor.

Speaking with Bloomberg at the 9th OPEC International Seminar, he revealed that a strategic review of NNPC’s refinery operations was ongoing and expected to be concluded before the end of the year.

“We’re reviewing all our refinery strategies now. We hope before the end of the year, we’ll be able to conclude that review. That review may lead to us doing things slightly differently,” he said.

When asked whether the review could lead to selling off the refineries, Ojulari responded, “What we’re saying is that sale is not out of the question. All the options are on the table, to be frank, but that decision will be based on the outcome of the reviews we’re doing now.”

Echoing sentiments shared by Dangote, Ojulari attributed some of the setbacks to obsolete infrastructure and underperforming technologies.

“We made quite a lot of investments over the last several years and brought in a lot of technologies, but we’ve been challenged. Some of those technologies have not worked as we expected so far. But also, as you know, when you’re refining a very old refinery that has been abandoned for some time, what we’re finding is that it’s becoming a little bit more complicated,” he explained.

 Dangote’s cautious optimism

While addressing members of the Global CEO Africa from the Lagos Business School at his Lekki refinery on Thursday, Dangote expressed pessimism over the functionality of the refineries. He doubted the possibility of the state-owned refineries working again.

Dangote said the refineries under the NNPC management had gulped up to $18bn, yet they have refused to work.

According to Dangote, the 650,000-capacity refinery he built after the government of late Umar Yar’adua aborted his acquisition of the government refineries now has over 50 per cent of its output dedicated to Premium Motor Spirit (petrol), saying that even government refineries committed just 22 per cent of their production to petrol.

Dangote recalled how he and his team had to return the nation’s refineries to Yar’adua, a few months after former President Olusegun Obasanjo left office in 2007.

According to him, the former managers of the refinery had told Yar’Adua that Obasanjo sold the facilities below their costs as a parting gift to him and his colleagues.

“The refineries that we bought before, which were owned by Nigeria, were doing about 22 per cent of PMS. We bought the refineries in January 2007. Then we had to return them to the government because there was a change of government. And the Managing Director at that time convinced Yar’adua that the refineries would work.

“They said they just gave them to us as a parting gift or so. And as of today, they have spent about $18bn on those refineries, and they are still not working. And I don’t think, and I doubt very much if they will work,” he said.

Dangote emphasised that the turnaround maintenance of the refineries was like trying to modernise a car built 40 years ago, when technology has advanced.

“(The turnaround maintenance) is like you trying to modernise a car that was built 40 years ago, when technology and everything have changed. Even if you change the engine, the body will not be able to take the shock of that new technology engine,” he stated.

Dangote’s comment buttressed Obasanjo’s comments last year about the refineries, two of which were shut down again after they were declared operational by Kyari in Q4 2024.