Former Vice President of Nigeria and chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, says the recent admission about the state of the refineries operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has vindicated his earlier position on the sale of the facility.
Atiku, in a statement on Sunday, submitted that keeping the national refineries running without any productive activity is a waste of national resources and a pure political decision which doesn’t make economic sense.
Naijaonpoint recalls that the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPCL, Bayo Ojulari, recently admitted that Nigeria’s state-owned refineries were operating at what he described as a “monumental loss”, forcing his management team to halt operations to stop further financial damage to the country.
According to him, Nigerians had every reason to be upset, considering the huge public funds invested over the years.
Reacting in a statement on Sunday, Atiku said that though the admission is belated, the revelation has validated his earlier call for the privatisation of the refineries.
He insisted that the call for the privatization of the refineries is a patriotic submission, but he was vilified for several years over the suggestion.
Atiku maintained that attempting to revive the refineries does not make economic sense, and any proposed refinery deal, including with foreign partners, should be discontinued.
The statement from the former Vice President, as made available to Naijaonpoint, reads: “After gulping $1.5bn, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has now admitted that reopening the Port Harcourt Refinery is a waste of scarce resources. This belated admission validates my long-held position that Nigeria’s refineries should be privatised.
“It is instructive that the Tinubu administration has finally come to terms with an inevitable truth: pouring public funds into moribund refineries is economically indefensible. Paying billions in salaries to facilities that produce not a single litre of petrol does not serve the national interest.
“For years, I advanced this patriotic position and was vilified and accused of plotting to sell public assets to “friends.”
“Today, the facts have caught up with the rhetoric. Decades of so-called turnaround maintenance have swallowed billions of dollars with nothing to show for it, exposing deep deficits in capacity, technical know-how, and financial discipline.
“The latest push to “revive” these refineries was driven by political pressure, not economic sense. Politics must never substitute for sound, transformative policy.
“Accordingly, any proposed refinery deal, including with foreign partners, should be discontinued, as it merely repeats failed models.
“Nigeria would have been better served by selling the refineries pre-rehabilitation to avoid ballooning debt and the steady depreciation of what have effectively become liabilities.”