Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has criticised the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) over its handling of the Port Harcourt Refinery, describing the decision to reopen the facility as a waste of scarce public resources after billions of dollars have been sunk into failed rehabilitation efforts.
In a post on his official X (formerly Twitter) handle on Monday, Atiku said the oil company’s recent admission that reviving the refinery was economically unjustifiable confirmed a position he has held for years — that Nigeria’s refineries should be privatised.
“After gulping $1.5bn, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has now admitted that reopening the Port Harcourt Refinery is a waste of scarce resources. This belated admission validates my long-held position that Nigeria’s refineries should be privatised.”
The former presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) noted that the Tinubu administration had finally acknowledged what he described as an unavoidable economic reality.
“It is instructive that the Tinubu administration has finally come to terms with an inevitable truth: pouring public funds into moribund refineries is economically indefensible. Paying billions in salaries to facilities that produce not a single litre of petrol does not serve the national interest.”
Atiku recalled that his stance on privatising government-owned refineries had previously attracted criticism and suspicion, including accusations that he intended to sell public assets to cronies.
“For years, I advanced this patriotic position and was vilified and accused of plotting to sell public assets to ‘friends.’”
According to him, the prolonged failure of turnaround maintenance programmes has now exposed deeper structural problems within the country’s refining sector.
“Today, the facts have caught up with the rhetoric. Decades of so-called turnaround maintenance have swallowed billions of dollars with nothing to show for it, exposing deep deficits in capacity, technical know-how, and financial discipline.”
The former vice president further argued that the recent attempts to revive the refineries were driven more by political considerations than sound economic judgment.
“The latest push to ‘revive’ these refineries was driven by political pressure, not economic sense. Politics must never substitute for sound, transformative policy.”
He warned against repeating what he described as failed approaches, including entering new refinery agreements with foreign partners.
“Accordingly, any proposed refinery deal, including with foreign partners, should be discontinued, as it merely repeats failed models.”
Atiku concluded that Nigeria would have been better off disposing of the refineries before embarking on costly rehabilitation exercises, which he said have only worsened the country’s financial burden.
“Nigeria would have been better served by selling the refineries pre-rehabilitation to avoid ballooning debt and the steady depreciation of what have effectively become liabilities.”
The remarks add to the growing national debate over the future of Nigeria’s state-owned refineries amid persistent fuel import dependence and rising public debt.