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We won’t sell P’Harcourt refinery, we’ll revive it – NNPCL
Contrary to earlier indications that the four refineries owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), would be put on the shelf soon, the company, seems to be thinking twice about the move.
Bayo Ojulari, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (GMD-CEO), had in an interview with Bloomberg, recently, hinted that many options were before now being considered as the future fate of the company, including outright sell-off.
But in definite statement, capturing the new thinking, the NNPCL boss, told reporters at its corporate headquarters in Abuja that the decision not to dispose it was because doing so would lead to further value erosion.
The decision is coming against the grain of arguments from industrial stakeholders including Aliko Dangote, owner of the $20billion Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals (DRP), the first privately-owned refinery in Africa, with the reputation of hosting the world’s largest single-chain refining capacity.
Dangote While hosting members of the Global CEO Africa from the Lagos Business School, after a tour of the 650,000-capacity refinery in Lekki, Lagos, spoke of how a whopping $18billion had been wasted on the attempt to revive the NNPCL refineries over the years without any positive results, adding that the situation could remain so.
Recounting how he had to embark on building his own facility from the scratch after the government of late President Umar Yar’adua aborted his acquisition of the government refineries he stated how his own company now had 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.
Recalling how he and his team had to return the refineries to Yar’adua, a few months after former President Olusegun Obasanjo left office in 2007, because the former managers of the refinery had told the late former President that his predecessor sold the facilities below their costs as a parting gift to him, he maintained that the decision of the government to abort the deal was wrong.
“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.
“(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.
Obasanjo had in 2024 toed the same line of argument, stating that the NNPC was aware that it could not operate the refineries, adding that international oil companies like Shell once refused to run the facilities when he requested them to do so.
“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? 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 NNPC. When people were there to do it, they put pressure. In a civilised society, those people should be in jail. I was told not too long ago that since that time, more than $2billion 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. The refineries’ performance is lie 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.
However, the NNPCL, appears unfazed by the prevailing arguments of the stakeholders, even after spending $1.5 billion on the rehabilitation of the 210,000 barrels per day Port Harcourt Refinery, with Ojulari, suggesting that the mistake was to operate the facility before it was fully completed.
In 2021, the Federal Government had awarded a $1.5 billion contract to Marie Technimont, an Italian company, for the rehabilitation of the refinery, with Mele Kyari, its former GMD-CEO, saying in December 2023, that the refinery had reached 88 per cent completion and was scheduled for full operation after a mechanical completion by the end of the year.
After a long wait without much progress the company’s boss returned in November 2024, with another claim that had commenced production only for the story to change despite the huge fanfare that heralded the earlier claim when, in May 2025, the NNPCL management, now under Ojulari, announced a shutdown of the facility for another maintenance.
Suggesting that it was a mistake to have started production when the facility was not ready, the new NNPCL boss, told reporters, that a review showed that the decision was ill-informed.
Against the backdrop of reports that Dangote was also making a pitch to acquired the company, Ojulari, maintained that the facility was not for sale, reaffirming its commitment to completing high-grade rehabilitation and retention of the plant.
A statement from the parley, quoted him as saying: “The ongoing review indicates that the earlier decision to operate the Port Harcourt refinery, before full completion of its rehabilitation, was ill-informed and sub-commercial.
“Although progress is being made on all three, the emerging outlook calls for more advanced technical partnerships to complete and high-grade the rehabilitation of Port Harcourt refinery. Thus, selling is highly unlikely as it would lead to further value erosion.
“The decision to retain the refinery was received with applause from hundreds of staff attendees who described the position as a renewed sense of business-focused direction across the organisation.
“The town hall served as more than a performance update; it was an opportunity for candid and constructive engagement. The Executive Vice Presidents presented progress reports from the Upstream, Downstream, Finance, Business Services, Gas, Power, and New Energy businesses, highlighting operational achievements, ongoing reforms, and areas requiring attention.
“In a tone marked by honesty and leadership, challenges and earlier missteps were acknowledged, and a clear roadmap was outlined for the journey ahead. The announcement reinforces NNPC’s mandate as a strategic custodian of national energy infrastructure and reflects a firm resolve to deliver on the complete rehabilitation and long-term viability of Nigeria’s refineries.
‘’It also signals continuity in the Federal Government’s broader energy security objectives and a commitment to retaining critical assets under national control.
“Feedback during and after the session revealed a workforce energised and aligned with the leadership’s vision. “Described as reassuring, transformational, and “sustainable, the atmosphere reflected an optimistic outlook among employees and hopefulness about the company’s evolving strategic direction.”
Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Governor of Oyo State, on Thursday, finally threw his hats into the ring by declaring his intention to run for president in 2027, with a message – history beckons.
The governor, whose ambition has been a matter of speculations for months now and who had teamed up with forces angling to force President Bola Tinubu, out of power, told a teeming crowd in Ibadan on Thursday that time had come to reset Nigeria.
At a mega-rally to announce the alliance between the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the Allied Peoples’ Movement, (APM), Makinde, expressed worry over the dwindling fortunes of Nigerians, vowing to engage Nigerians to end the drift.
Hear him: “Without a multi-party system, there is no democracy. Where is our multi-party? Where do we go from here? We have been pushed to the wall.
“They calculated and self-opposition cannot unite but I am here to say that the opposition is the everyday Nigerian. This is the time for all us to ensure Nigeria works for us. This is the time to confront it fears. It is time to engage as citizens and not spectators.
“For the opposition political parties, this is the time to unite and work in unity and give our nation the much reset it needs. The time to reset Nigeria is now. Ibadan is the city of warriors. The first grand alliance is formed. The PDP and APM is formed. This handshake will allow us to field candidates from presidency to state Assembly. And so, I declare my candidacy for office of the president of Nigeria.”
Eyo Ekpe, a professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), on Wednesday, gave a detailed account on how operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) manhandled him on Monday.
He told reporters that he was at sea on why he should fall victim to the assault against his person and eventually arrested given that was not right person directly involved in the information the agency sought.
Some operatives of the EFCC who invaded the hospital, had whisked Ekpe away after firing teargas to scare away the workers, patients and visitors to the hospital, following what appeared like a fracas the ensued over what it claimed was a routine duty in the facility.
Ekpe, Deputy Chairman of the hospital’s Medical Advisory Committee (MAC), described how an operative had first entered his office to make inquiries on why the hospital was yet to give a response to an EFCC inquiry over a medical report linked to a suspect facing trial.
He detailed how he briefed the operative that the said response was being prepared and even went ahead to show him the draft of a letter in that regard, which needed to go through the gamut of official endorsement before being released.
Hear him: “The head of that internal medicine department looked at the report and also discovered that the name of the doctor that signed the report is not a member of staff of that department.
“I had prepared prepared a response to the EFCC on Monday, May 11, 2026, based on the findings. When the EFCC operative visited my office the next morning to collect the document, I told him that the response was ready in draft. I even showed him the draft, but told him that the document still needed approval from the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital before it could be officially signed and released.
“He pretended to have accepted that. He left, but later later returned with another armed operative and informed me that I was under arrest. I asked him why. I was not the one that issued the medical report. My name is not on the medical report. The report was not issued from my unit.
“But he said I would get the answer when I get to their office. I then asked him to at least wait for my staff member who I sent on an errand before joining them. But they refused.
“They started pushing me. They dragged me out of the office. Then I began to cry while they were dragging me. They had warned me not to speak. They had taken my phone. My cry as they were dragging me, attracted the workers to the scene, who enquired what was going on, but because they ordered me not to speak, I couldn’t say anything. They had their guns.
The members of staff of the hospital initially blocked them from taking me away. They then made a call. After that I saw many masked and armed men came violently, broke the protector, threatening the people that were around and people ran away.
“They picked some staff that were still by me. they dragged me and other staff, five of us into their van downstairs. By that time they discovered that the gate of the hospital were locked. So, they drove towards the gate and packed and the commotion continued. We were inside the van.
“I was so emotionally and psychologically traumatised that I couldn’t even look out of the vehicle to see what was happening outside. But I know that teargas and live bullets were shot. That’s all I can say for now.”
Joyce Abdulmalik, of the Federal High Court, Abuja, heard on Wednesday, how Zenith Bank raised alarm over the huge transaction in one of its branches by Abubakar Malami, former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF-MoJ).
The bank said it immediately filed a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) in respect to the transactions, during its appearance in the ongoing trial of Malami, his wife, and son over allegation of massive looting of funds belonging to the Federal Government during his tenure.
Mashelia Bata, a compliance officer with the bank, who appeared as witness in the case, where Malami, et al, are facing a 16-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering to the tune of N8.7 billion, to which they pleaded not guilty, gave the testimony while being questioned on the bank’s roles in the matter.
Details of the testimony conveyed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), stated how the compliance officer who was cross-examined by Adebayo Adedeji, lawyer to the defendants admitted that the deposits in the account statements complied with the guidelines of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Arguments had stretched when Adedeji, opposed Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), lawyer to the EFCC, who had asked the witness to explain the meaning of a suspicious transaction report, stressing that there was no ambiguity in the term.
However, Okutepa, in response, maintained that section 215(3) of the Evidence Act did not preclude him from re-examining the witness while urging the court to allow the question for proper explanation.
After Abdulmalik, agreed and overruled Adedeji, the witness told the court that banks were required to alert the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) about fund deposits coming in a repetitive pattern, adding: “Any deposition of funds seen in a pattern or repetitive, you must escalate it to the NFIU.”
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