Opposition leaders on Saturday criticised President Bola Tinubu’s administration following remarks by the leadership of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, which cast serious doubt on the viability of the country’s refineries despite the billions invested in their rehabilitation.

On Thursday, the President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, stated that the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries might never resume operations, even after about $18bn had been spent on their turnaround.

On Friday, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPCL, Bayo Ojulari, echoed similar concerns, revealing that the company was now considering selling off the refineries as years of rehabilitation had failed to yield meaningful results due to the facilities’ outdated status.

Ojulari made the disclosure in an interview with Bloomberg in Vienna, Austria, noting that the country had invested heavily without any tangible outcome.

Reacting in separate interviews with our correspondents on Saturday, some opposition leaders tackled the Tinubu administration, demanding a thorough criminal investigation into the alleged corruption linked to the failed turnaround maintenance of the refineries.

They argued that the government cannot simply move on without identifying and prosecuting those responsible for the massive losses.

The leaders also accused both the current administration and its predecessor under Muhammadu Buhari of misleading Nigerians about the operational status of the refineries.

While acknowledging the failure of government-led public asset management, they warned that selling the refineries without strict safeguards could lead to a repeat of the underperformance seen in the power sector after the privatisation of the electricity distribution companies.

Ojulari took over from Mele Kyari as the GCEO of the NNPCL on April 2, 2025, following an appointment by President Bola Tinubu. The new NNPC helmsman’s approach brings a shift in tone from the previous leadership.

In 2019, Kyari had assured Nigerians that the NNPC would deliver the country’s four refineries before the end of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure on May 29, 2023.

However, Ojulari’s comments on Thursday stood in sharp contrast to those of his predecessor.

Speaking with Bloomberg at the 9th OPEC International Seminar, he revealed that a strategic review of NNPC’s refinery operations was ongoing and expected to be concluded before the end of the year.

“We’re reviewing all our refinery strategies now. We hope before the end of the year, we’ll be able to conclude that review. That review may lead to us doing things slightly differently,” he said.

When asked whether the review could lead to selling off the refineries, Ojulari responded, “What we’re saying is that sale is not out of the question. All the options are on the table, to be frank, but that decision will be based on the outcome of the reviews we’re doing now.”

Echoing sentiments shared by Dangote, Ojulari attributed some of the setbacks to obsolete infrastructure and underperforming technologies.

“We made quite a lot of investments over the last several years and brought in a lot of technologies, but we’ve been challenged. Some of those technologies have not worked as we expected so far. But also, as you know, when you’re refining a very old refinery that has been abandoned for some time, what we’re finding is that it’s becoming a little bit more complicated,” he explained.

Dangote’s cautious optimism

While addressing members of the Global CEO Africa from the Lagos Business School at his Lekki refinery on Thursday, Dangote expressed pessimism over the functionality of the refineries. He doubted the possibility of the state-owned refineries working again.

Dangote said the refineries under the NNPC management had gulped up to $18bn, yet they have refused to work.

According to Dangote, the 650,000-capacity refinery he built after the government of late Umar Yar’adua aborted his acquisition of the government refineries now has over 50 per cent of its output dedicated to Premium Motor Spirit (petrol), saying that even government refineries committed just 22 per cent of their production to petrol.

Dangote recalled how he and his team had to return the nation’s refineries to Yar’adua, a few months after former President Olusegun Obasanjo left office in 2007.

According to him, the former managers of the refinery had told Yar’Adua that Obasanjo sold the facilities below their costs as a parting gift to him and his colleagues.

“The refineries that we bought before, which were owned by Nigeria, were doing about 22 per cent of PMS. We bought the refineries in January 2007. Then we had to return them to the government because there was a change of government. And the Managing Director at that time convinced Yar’adua that the refineries would work.

“They said they just gave them to us as a parting gift or so. And as of today, they have spent about $18bn on those refineries, and they are still not working. And I don’t think, and I doubt very much if they will work,” he said.

Dangote emphasised that the turnaround maintenance of the refineries was like trying to modernise a car built 40 years ago, when technology has advanced.

“(The turnaround maintenance) is like you trying to modernise a car that was built 40 years ago, when technology and everything have changed. Even if you change the engine, the body will not be able to take the shock of that new technology engine,” he stated.

Dangote’s comment buttressed Obasanjo’s comments last year about the refineries, two of which were shut down again after they were declared operational by Kyari in Q4 2024.

Obasanjo’s warning

Obasanjo had stated that the NNPC was aware that it could not operate the refineries, saying international oil companies like Shell once refused to run the facilities when he requested them to do so.

According to Obasanjo, some Nigerians, including Dangote, once paid $750m to take over the refineries; however, his successor, Yar’adua, aborted the deal.

“I ran to him (Yar’Adua), I said, ‘You know this is not right’. He said, ‘Well, NNPC said they can do it.’ I said, ‘NNPC cannot do it’. I told my successor that ‘the refineries, from what I heard and know, will not work, and when you want to sell them, you will not get anybody to buy them at $200m as scrap’. And that is the situation we are in.

“So, why do we do this kind of thing to ourselves? The NNPC knew that they could not do it, but they knew they could eat and carry on with the corruption that was going on in the NNPC. When people were there to do it, they put pressure. In a civilised society, those people should be in jail,” Obasanjo had stated.

Again, in January after the Tinubu administration embarked on the refineries’ fresh rehabilitation, Obasanjo said, “I was told not too long ago that since that time, more than $2bn have been squandered on the refineries and they still will not work.

“If a company like Shell tells me what they told me, I will believe them. If anybody tells you now that it (the refinery) is working, why are they now with Aliko (Dangote)? And Aliko will make his refinery work; not only make it work, he will make it deliver.”

Obasanjo concluded with a Yoruba proverb, comparing inflated claims about the refineries’ performance to a farmer who planted 100 heaps of yam but falsely claimed to have planted 200.

“They say that after he has harvested 100 heaps of yams, he will also have 100 heaps of lies. You know what that means,” he said.

Displeased with Obasanjo’s comments, former NNPC spokesman, Olufemi Soneye, issued a statement, inviting the ex-President for a tour of the facilities.

Soneye boasted that the rehabilitation supervised by the Kyari-led NNPC was different from the past as it was a complete overhaul designed to meet world-class standards.

Tinubu under fire

However, since taking over the leadership of NNPCL, Ojulari had delivered a contrasting verdict on the state of the refineries, sparking wide reactions from opposition leaders in the country.

Following his admission that the refineries are not viable and may eventually be sold, opposition parties and other Nigerians on Saturday berated President Tinubu’s administration for the misleading claim that the refineries can work and have indeed started working.

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Speaking with Sunday PUNCH,  the National Coordinator of the Obidient Movement, Yunusa Tanko, accused the All Progressives Congress-led government of deceiving Nigerians over the state of the country’s refineries, saying the recent revelations about their non-viability confirm what he described as a long-standing pattern of lies and misgovernance.

According to Tanko, the government’s failure to conduct due diligence before making repeated promises on the functionality of the refineries shows a deep-seated disregard for the Nigerian people.

“These are parts of the pack of lies they have been telling Nigerians. Now, the lie has unveiled itself. That means you cannot trust this government or whatever they tell you,” he said.

According to him, the lack of integrity in both the current and immediate past administrations is evident.

“There is no truth in whatever they are doing. Moreover, integrity hasn’t been part of their governance,” Tanko added. He blamed the government for not properly assessing the true state of the refineries before making public declarations.

“That also means they did not do due diligence in the first place to know the actual status of the refinery before making pronouncements that they would ensure it is working,” he said.

Tanko traced the crisis back to the Buhari administration, noting that President Tinubu’s decision to continue on the same path has only worsened the situation.

“This did not begin today; it started with Buhari’s regime and ended up with them. No wonder President Tinubu said he would continue from where Buhari left. But not only have they taken off from where Buhari left, they have also taken us far worse than where he left us,” he stated.

He condemned what he described as the government’s disregard for transparency and accountability. “That is the situation we have found ourselves in. It is about lies, disdain, and lack of respect for the Nigerian people,” Tanko said.

Similarly, the National Secretary of the Coalition of United Political Parties, Mr Peter Ameh, accused both the current administration and the immediate past government of former President Muhammadu Buhari of misleading the Nigerian public.

He called on the Federal Government to open a criminal investigation into the billions of dollars invested in the country’s refineries, describing the failed rehabilitation efforts as a monumental waste of public resources.

“Before the APC government even talks about the sales, they must first carry out a due investigation into the corruption surrounding the huge amount of money invested in the refineries,” he said. “There was a lot of money, billions of dollars, wasted on that project. Who is going to give an account of that? Who will be held responsible?”

“I think the most important thing to do first now is to open a criminal investigation into the resources that have been channeled into the turnaround maintenance and restarting of the refineries,” he said. “And those people must be held accountable.”

He also expressed displeasure over the inability of the media to educate the public on the status of the refineries while the government gave false hope.

“It is an indictment of the journalists and both the current and immediate past administration of Buhari,” he said. “Journalists must be able to have basic knowledge of any information they are churning out to the public because I saw a lot of reports on social media of how journalists were taken to the refineries to give a clean bill of health that the refineries were working.”

He added that Ojulari’s admission had vindicated Obasanjo.

“I believe that what Obasanjo stood and clamoured for, which I have also written about, is the fact that the best option is privatisation,” he said.

“The government should raise a committee that will bring all the people involved in the refinery scam to a public trial, like the Oputa Panel, so that they can tell the Nigerian people publicly how the billions of dollars were spent on the refineries and yet there is nothing working. And yet they could have the audacity and temerity to announce to Nigerians that the refineries were already working. If we don’t do this, for me, we will be emboldening corruption in this country,” he maintained.

Also, former Kaduna Central Senator, Shehu Sani, expressed reservations about the Federal Government’s proposed sale of Nigeria’s refineries, saying while he does not support the idea in principle, it may be the only viable option left given the country’s history of wasteful spending.

In a post made on his verified X (Formerly Twitter) handle on Saturday, the former lawmaker said, “I don’t like the idea of selling our refineries when other countries can efficiently run their refineries; but it looks like the lesser devil is to sell them so that we don’t have to spend another $7bn to rehabilitate them.”

Sani noted that efforts at turnaround maintenance in the past had proven to be economically draining with little to no results.

“Anything about rehabilitation is financially scary in this country,” he said, adding that he feared the proposed sale could replicate the failures recorded in Nigeria’s electricity sector.

“I also hope the refineries will not go the way of the Discos,” he warned.

Also speaking with Sunday PUNCH, political economist, Prof. Pat Utomi, said, “I said it so many times, but because they wanted to spend the money, they said they could repair it. Anyone who understands how such things are run will know that such things will be a waste. It was obvious. It should have been sold a long time ago if they listened.”

On his part, the National Secretary of the Social Democratic Party, Dr Olu Agunloye, said the NNPC MD deserves credit for saying the truth.

“At least they came out to say the truth. They now need to do what they need to do. Stop the corruption and get to work.”

Agunloye said it was a mistake to reverse Obasanjo’s sale of the refineries.

“Remember, former President Obasanjo said he wanted to sell the refinery. So, it is what we have known all along. So we expect them to do the next level. If a single man can build a refinery, why can’t the government build one?

“There are people who can handle it, but they must not do to them what they did to Dangote.”

A member of the House of Representatives, Henry Okojie, also declared that state-owned petroleum refineries in Port-Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna are critical national assets and, as such, Nigerians have a say on whether to sell or retain them.

The Edo-born lawmaker, who doubles as the Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Midstream),  said his committee would speak on behalf of millions of Nigerians on the fate of the refineries, at the appropriate time.

He said, “We represent millions of Nigerians who own these refineries. This is not to fault the NNPCL boss or the highly respected Alhaji Dangote. As the committee overseeing the oil company, it is our duty to advise the Federal Government in the best interest of Nigerians.

“If the committee finds out that the money being spent on the maintenance of the refineries is money not well spent, we will make our position known. At the same time, it is rather too hasty to say that the refineries would be sold.”

Further expressing concerns, Okojie added, “Just a few months ago, Nigerians were elated when they were told that the Port Harcourt refinery had resumed full operation. Kaduna and Warri were to follow suit. What then has happened that we are now being told that the refineries could be sold?” he asked.

On what the committee would do in the weeks ahead following the comments made by Ojulari and Dangote, the federal lawmaker said a comprehensive investigation is underway to unmask possible fraud in the system.

“The committee will carry out a holistic and forensic investigation to unravel all irregularities and fraud,” he pledged.

He also assured the readiness of his committee to collaborate with relevant stakeholders to unravel the true state of the refineries in the public interest.

“We will work with experts on the way forward. We will visit the refineries and see things for ourselves. One thing is clear, we cannot encourage the Federal Government to continue to pump money into a project that is not economically viable. At the same time, we will not permit anyone to sabotage efforts to get these refineries to work for the nation. This is all I can say for now,” he added.

The PUNCH reports that the Federal Government has consistently expended resources on the refineries, which went moribund many years ago. It was gathered that $1.4bn was approved for the rehabilitation of Port Harcourt refinery in 2021; $897m was earmarked for Warri, and $586m for Kaduna refineries.

N100bn was reportedly spent on refinery rehabilitation in 2021, with N8.33bn monthly expenditure. $396.33m was spent on Turnaround Maintenance between 2013 and 2017. Despite all the financial allocations, the refineries remain unproductive at the moment.