President Bola Tinubu has reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to reviving Nigeria’s dormant state-owned refineries, declaring that the facilities will not be abandoned despite growing competition from private operators.
Tinubu, represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Patience Oyekunle, made this known on Monday in Lagos at the 20th OTL Africa Downstream Energy Week.
The President said the Federal Government was adopting a new approach to refinery rehabilitation, with emphasis on technical assessments, stronger partnerships, commercial viability and operational efficiency.
He described the refineries as strategic national assets essential to Nigeria’s energy security, stressing that investments in the facilities must not be allowed to go to waste.
The affected facilities are the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries, managed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited. They have remained largely inactive despite substantial investments in turnaround maintenance over the years.
Tinubu explained that the new strategy would focus on determining the technical and commercial viability of the refineries, strengthening partnerships and establishing a sustainable operational framework.
In a related development, the current management of the NNPC Limited has signed a memorandum of understanding with two Chinese firms for the rehabilitation of the refineries.
However, details of the proposed collaboration, including its implementation timeline and expected completion dates, were not provided.
The renewed push comes amid increasing activity in Nigeria’s private refining sector, heightening pressure on the government to restore its own facilities and improve domestic refining capacity.
If successfully implemented, the rehabilitation programme could strengthen local petroleum product supply and reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported refined products.
The success of the initiative, however, will depend on the condition of the facilities, effective execution, sustainable financing and the ability to maintain efficient operations after rehabilitation.
