By Myke Uzendu, Abuja
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has renewed his call for the privatisation of Nigeria’s state-owned refineries following an admission by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) that the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery has become a waste of scarce public resources.
Atiku, in a statement on Sunday, said the development vindicated his long-standing position that government-owned refineries are economically unviable and should be sold to competent private investors.
“After gulping $1.5 billion, 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,” Atiku said.
The former vice president described the Tinubu administration’s acceptance of the refinery’s failure as an acknowledgement of what he called an “inevitable truth,” arguing that continued public spending on non-performing assets was indefensible.
“It is instructive that the administration has finally come to terms with the fact that pouring public funds into moribund refineries makes no economic sense. Paying billions in salaries to facilities that do not produce a single litre of petrol does not serve the national interest,” he said.
NNPCL recently disclosed that despite about $1.5 billion spent on the rehabilitation and Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of the Port Harcourt Refinery, the facility has failed to resume sustainable production, raising fresh questions about the viability of government-led refinery management.
Atiku, a long-time advocate of market-driven reforms, recalled that his calls for refinery privatisation date back several years, when he consistently argued that Nigeria lacked the capacity to efficiently run the facilities.
“For years, I advanced this patriotic position and was vilified, accused of plotting to sell public assets to ‘friends’. Today, the facts have caught up with the rhetoric,” he wrote.
Nigeria has spent billions of dollars over the decades on turnaround maintenance of its refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna, yet none has operated at optimal capacity for any sustained period. Critics argue that the repeated rehabilitation efforts exposed weaknesses in technical expertise, financial discipline and governance within the public sector.
According to Atiku, the most recent attempt to revive the refineries was driven more by political considerations than by economic logic.
“The latest push to ‘revive’ these refineries was driven by political pressure, not economic sense. Politics must never substitute for sound, transformative policy,” he said.
He also cautioned against fresh arrangements with foreign partners to resuscitate the facilities, warning that such deals merely recycle failed models.
“Accordingly, any proposed refinery deal, including with foreign partners, should be discontinued,” Atiku said.
The former vice president maintained that Nigeria would have been better served by selling the refineries before embarking on expensive rehabilitation projects, noting that continued public ownership has only increased debt and turned the assets into liabilities.
“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,” he added.
