For more than three decades, Nigeria’s refineries in Warri, Kaduna and Port Harcourt, once hailed as strategic national assets, have become colossal monuments to waste, corruption and state-enabled fraud. Not a single meaningful litre of petrol has been refined, yet billions of dollars have been sunk into “rehabilitation,” “turnaround maintenance,” and “capacity restoration.” What the nation has received in return is nothing but empty promises, rusting pipelines and an expanding wage bill.
While ordinary Nigerians work, sweat and struggle to survive, thousands of refinery workers continue to receive salaries, promotions and pensions from facilities that produce absolutely nothing. No other country on earth tolerates such an absurdity. It is a scandal of generational proportions—one that exposes the tragic depth of Nigeria’s governance failure.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), now NNPC Ltd., stands today as perhaps the most corrupt and unaccountable institution in the federation. Compared to the open extortion at the Nigerian ports or the routine graft in Customs, NNPC’s refinery operations resemble a masterclass in state-protected looting. For decades, senior executives, managers and political appointees have fed fat from a pipeline of guaranteed waste—untouchable, unmonitored and comfortably immune from consequences.
The failure did not happen overnight. When the Obasanjo administration attempted to privatize the refineries in 2007, the process was imperfect, but the conditions imposed on the preferred bidders were transformative: they were required to generate between 5,000 and 10,000 MW of power—an investment that could have boosted national electricity supply. But vested interests within NNPC, aided by compromised media outlets and political opportunists, waged an aggressive campaign to reverse the sale. The Yar’Adua administration yielded. A historic opportunity was lost.
What followed was a long, familiar script of deception. Yar’Adua’s government spent billions on repairs that produced nothing. Jonathan’s government did the same. Buhari’s government budgeted hundreds of millions of dollars—again, nothing. Today, the current administration has reportedly committed over $20 billion to refinery rehabilitation. Still, not one refinery is operational.
It is time to ask the obvious question:
What exactly are we repairing? What exactly are we maintaining? Empty buildings? Dead plants? Ghost facilities?
At this point, Nigeria may have been better off bulldozing the refineries instead of pouring endless foreign exchange into their bottomless pits of dysfunction.
This writer believes the time for half-measures are over. Nigeria must take bold, decisive action:
- Immediate dismissal of all refinery staff, from top executives to senior managers.
No productive economy pays idle workers for 30 years.
- Complete privatization of all refineries, sold strictly “as is.”
If buyers are unwilling, the assets should be decommissioned. What is unacceptable is maintaining this racket.
- A full-scale forensic audit of all past refinery executives, directors and senior staff.
Those found culpable must face prosecution, asset forfeiture and loss of pension.
- The Federal Government must withdraw entirely from petroleum operations.
Its role must be regulatory—not operational. The state has proved, repeatedly and decisively, that it cannot run a refinery.
Nigeria is a nation blessed with abundant crude oil yet condemned to import fuel at exorbitant cost. It is a national humiliation and an economic tragedy engineered by decades of incompetence and corruption.
The bleeding must stop.
The lies must stop.
The refinery charade must end.
The time for bold leadership is now. Nigeria cannot afford another decade of refinery fraud.
Nosa Ota Osaikhuiwu, is a change management professional with expertise in elimination of waste, fraud and abuse. He is an unapologetic advocate for culture change in Nigeria