Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has expressed scepticism over the commencement of operations at Nigeria’s government-owned refineries.
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 the sum of $897 million in 2021.
Nigeria has four national refineries, one each in Kaduna and Warri, and two in Port Harcourt. The 60,000bpd phase one of the Port Harcourt refinery began the refining of key fuels a few weeks ago. It can be recalled that the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari had awarded the contract for 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 $750m offer by billionaire business tycoon Aliko Dangote to manage the Port Harcourt & 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 that it could not run the national refineries yet rejected Dangote’s offer.
“Aliko got a team together and they paid $750m to take part in PPP (Public–Private Partnership) in running the refineries. My successor refunded their money and I went to my successor and told him what transpired. He said NNPC said they wanted the refineries and they can run it. I now said but you know they cannot run it,” Obasanjo said.
When told 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.