NNPCL’s $1.5bn refinery failure justifies privatisation – Atiku

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s (NNPCL) admission that the $1.5 billion rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery was a waste of resources validates his long-standing call for the privatisation of Nigeria’s refineries.

Reacting in a statement on Sunday via his official X account, Atiku referenced comments by NNPCL’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Bayo Ojulari, who disclosed that the refineries were operating at a “monumental loss” and that continued operations would only erode value.

“After gulping $1.5bn, NNPCL 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.

Ojulari had explained that despite heavy spending on contractors and operations, the facilities were draining value rather than generating it.

READ ALSO: ELECTORAL ACT: Supreme Court guided amendment, no wrongdoing by Senate — Jimoh Ibrahim

Atiku argued that the revelation confirms that pouring public funds into moribund refineries is economically indefensible. He criticised the payment of billions in salaries to facilities that produce no fuel, describing it as wasteful and against the national interest.

He recalled that his advocacy for privatisation had been met with accusations of attempting to sell public assets to associates, but said the latest admission proves his position right.

“For years, I advanced this patriotic position and was vilified. Today, the facts have caught up with the rhetoric,” he added.

Atiku noted that decades of turnaround maintenance had consumed billions of dollars without results, exposing weaknesses in technical capacity and financial discipline. He stressed that the most recent rehabilitation effort was driven more by political pressure than economic logic.

He urged the government to discontinue any new refinery arrangements, including those involving foreign partners, arguing they replicate failed approaches.

“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 said.

The post NNPCL’s $1.5bn refinery failure justifies privatisation – Atiku appeared first on Latest Nigeria News | Top Stories from Ripples Nigeria.