Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has reiterated his longstanding position that Nigeria’s state-owned refineries will never become functional again, even as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) continues its efforts to secure technical partners for the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna facilities.
Speaking in a television interview aired on Saturday night, April 25, on Sony Irabor Live and monitored by The News Chronicle, Obasanjo insisted that public-private partnerships (PPPs) remain the only viable model for Nigeria’s struggling assets.
“One of the lessons I learned is that PPP works,” he said, citing the Nigeria LNG as a successful example where private participation has delivered results.
He contrasted that success with the failure of other state enterprises, including the railways, shipping company, and NNPC refineries.
“The NNPC has refineries, and I said to people that it will never work. And a man had the audacity to say, ‘Am I a chemical engineer?’” he said.
Obasanjo also revisited his past attempts to involve Shell in managing Nigeria’s refineries, revealing that the oil giant declined both equity participation and operational control.
According to him, Shell cited four major concerns: low profitability in downstream operations, the small size of Nigeria’s refineries compared to global standards, poor maintenance culture, and widespread corruption.
“They said our refineries are too small… and not well-maintained. They also said there is too much corruption around them,” he recounted.
The former president said he was later “excited” when Dangote Group chairman, Aliko Dangote, offered $750 million to acquire a controlling stake in two refineries, describing the development as “a miracle.”
“I said, ‘Wow, God, you are really a God of miracles.’ I told Aliko to bring the money quickly. They brought the money, and they paid,” he said.
However, Obasanjo said the deal was reversed after he left office, alleging that his successor, the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, was pressured by the NNPC to cancel it.
He added that even Yar’Adua admitted to yielding to institutional pressure despite knowing the inefficiencies within the system.
Obasanjo also claimed that only the current NNPC leadership had been honest about the true condition of the refineries, while alleging that about $16 billion has been spent on them in recent years—an amount he compared to the cost of building the Dangote Refinery.
“The present NNPC head has told the country the truth,” he said, warning that continued spending without reform would only deepen losses.
