The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) has faulted recent comments credited to the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Limited, Engr. Bayo Ojulari, on the Port Harcourt Refinery, describing them as troubling, demoralising and damaging to Nigeria’s energy governance framework.
In a strongly worded press statement, PETROAN’s National Public Relations Officer, Dr. Joseph Obele, said the GCEO’s reported description of the Port Harcourt Refinery and Petrochemical Company (PHRC) rehabilitation as a “waste of resources” raises serious questions about accountability, institutional competence and the management of public assets.
Concerns Over Accountability and Governance
Dr. Obele, a Lecturer in Energy Marketing at Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, said the Federal Government reportedly spent over $1.5 billion of public funds on rehabilitating the Port Harcourt Refinery. The refinery resumed operations in November 2024, but shut down again by May 2025, after NNPCL cited alleged financial losses.
According to him, it is unacceptable for the leadership of NNPC Limited to dismiss such a massive public investment without clearly outlining who took the decisions, who supervised the rehabilitation, who certified the restart, and what performance audits were conducted.
“For the GCEO of NNPCL to now admit that the corporation lacks the capacity to operate refineries profitably, Nigerians deserve transparency. Public institutions cannot casually write off a multi-billion-dollar national asset without consequences,” Dr. Obele stated.
He warned that such admissions, without accompanying accountability measures, further weaken public trust and reinforce the perception of systemic inefficiency in Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector.
Private Refinery Not a Substitute for Public Assets
PETROAN also criticised what it described as an over-reliance on the success of the Dangote Refinery to justify the failure of state-owned assets. While acknowledging the strategic importance of the privately owned refinery to Nigeria’s fuel supply, Dr. Obele stressed that private investments cannot replace the government’s constitutional and economic responsibility to manage national assets efficiently.
“Dangote Refinery is a private, profit-driven investment. NNPCL holds national assets in trust for Nigerians. The success of one cannot be used as an excuse for the failure of the other,” he said.
He added that repeated public declarations of incapacity by NNPC leadership risk eroding investor confidence, undermining domestic refining policy, and weakening Nigeria’s long-term energy security, price stability and job creation objectives.
Dr. Obele described as particularly worrisome the suggestion that there is no urgency to restart the Port Harcourt Refinery because private refining capacity is currently meeting domestic demand.
“That line of thinking is not solution-centric. Leadership is about fixing problems, not retreating behind private sector success,” he said.
Legal Threats Over Continued Shutdown
The PETROAN spokesperson warned that continued shutdown of the Port Harcourt Refinery could result in rust, corrosion, lack of lubrication and eventual destruction of newly installed equipment, effectively rendering the entire rehabilitation effort futile.
He disclosed that PETROAN would begin consultations with civil society organisations and key stakeholders to explore legal options, including calls for the removal of the NNPC GCEO, should the refinery fail to resume operations on or before 1 March 2026.
“Nigeria cannot continue to normalise waste, institutional failure and retrospective justification of poor decisions. Admitting failure is only meaningful when followed by accountability, reforms and a credible plan to prevent a repeat,” Dr. Obele said.
The statement underscores growing industry concern over the future of Nigeria’s state-owned refineries and the broader implications for downstream efficiency, public finance discipline and national energy security.