Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has reiterated his stance on Nigeria’s state-owned refineries, declaring, “NNPC refineries will never work again,” as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited continues efforts to secure technical partners for facilities in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna.
Speaking during a televised interview, Obasanjo stressed that “PPP (public-private partnership) works,” citing the success of Nigeria LNG Limited as an example of effective collaboration between government and private investors. He criticised the handling of state assets, adding, “See what we did with Nigerian railways… even with the NNPC.”
Recounting his time in office, he said, “I said to people that it will never work,” referring to the refineries, while also recalling failed attempts to привлече Shell plc to manage them. According to him, Shell declined, citing low profitability in downstream operations, small refinery capacity, poor maintenance, and “too much corruption around our refineries.”
Obasanjo also revealed that Aliko Dangote once offered $750m for a majority stake in two refineries, an arrangement later reversed under Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. “When you sell these refineries, you will not get 200 million (dollars) for them,” he warned, arguing they would be valued as scrap.
He further claimed that about $16bn has been spent on the facilities over time close to the amount used by Dangote to build his privately owned refinery while noting that only the current NNPC leadership has been honest about their condition.
