Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has expressed doubt about the viability of Nigeria’s government-owned refineries, despite recent announcements of operational restarts.
He cited a past experience where the NNPC rejected Aliko Dangote’s $750 million offer to manage refineries, questioning the NNPC’s ability to run them effectively. Obasanjo used an idiomatic expression to imply that the truth about the refineries’ operations will be revealed in due time.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) recently announced the restart of the 125,000 barrels per day (bpd) Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), which was first approved for rehabilitation at a cost of $897 million in 2021.
Nigeria has four national refineries: one each in Kaduna and Warri, and two in Port Harcourt. The 60,000 bpd phase one of the Port Harcourt refinery began refining key fuels a few weeks ago. The All Progressives Congress (APC) administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari had awarded the contract for the complete rehabilitation and overhaul of the four state-owned refineries over three years ago.
However, Obasanjo has questioned the viability of the refineries, citing a past experience where the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) rejected a $750 million offer by billionaire business tycoon Aliko Dangote to manage the Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries back in 2007.
In an exclusive interview with Channels Television, Obasanjo revealed that the NNPC, now rebranded as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), knew it could not run the national refineries yet rejected Dangote’s offer.
“Aliko got a team together and they paid $750 million to take part in a Public–Private Partnership (PPP) in running the refineries. My successor refunded their money and I went to my successor and told him what transpired. He said NNPC wanted the refineries and they could run them. I now said, but you know they cannot run it,” Obasanjo said.
When informed about the announcement of the commencement of operations at some of the refineries, Obasanjo used an idiomatic expression to express his doubts.
“It is as they say in Yoruba, the man who planted 100 heaps of yam and says he has planted two hundred. They say after he has harvested 100 heaps of yams, he will also harvest 100 heaps of lies in due time, you know what that means,” the former Nigerian leader said.
