Oil marketers and key players in the petroleum sector have expressed strong support for the planned sale of Nigeria’s state-run refineries, but insist the process must be anchored on transparency, inclusiveness, and accountability.
Speaking in separate interviews, the stakeholders argued that privatising the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries could finally break the monopolistic grip on the downstream sector, stimulate healthy competition, and eliminate what many have described as a drain on public finances.
They pointed out that despite the trillions of naira spent over the years on rehabilitation and maintenance, the facilities have failed to deliver results, remaining largely moribund.
Their comments came in response to recent remarks by Bayo Ojulari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, who admitted that efforts to revamp the combined 445,000 barrels per day capacity refineries have been undermined by the facilities’ decades-old obsolescence.
Ojulari, in an interview with Bloomberg on the sidelines of the just concluded 9th OPEC international seminar in Vienna, Austria, admitted that the company is currently reassessing its refineries strategies and aims to finalise the review by year-end.
Ojulari further said NNPC remains uncertain whether the review will result in the sale of the refineries.
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“What we are saying is that sale is not out of the question. All the options are on the table, to be frank, but that decision will be based on the outcome of the reviews we’re doing now,” he said in the interview.
The proposal, it was gathered, came on the same day the President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, suggested that the facilities might never be viable due to mismanagement and may not resume operations.
Industry experts say the plan, if executed transparently, could end years of waste and inefficiency.
Billy Gillis-Harry, who leads the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, has described the proposed privatisation of Nigeria’s refineries as perhaps the only logical step left, given their persistent inefficiency.
However, while speaking with journalists on Sunday, Gillis-Harry raised concerns about the underlying reasons for the government’s renewed push to sell the facilities. He questioned the timing and motives driving the conversation, noting that stakeholders need clarity on what factors are shaping the decision.