•Queries if government was selling scrap or sovereign assets

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

African Democratic Congress (ADC) has demanded a full audit of Nigeria’s refineries, citing recent reports that successive governments have spent nearly $18 billion on the rehabilitation of the three major refineries in the country. 

In a statement by ADC’s National Publicity Secretary and Coalition Spokesperson, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party questioned whether the Tinubu administration had been deceiving Nigerians, having recently spent over $2.8 billion on the refineries, before declaring that they were moribund. 

ADC stated with deep concern the recent confirmation by the Tinubu administration and the leadership of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) that the federal government was proceeding with the full privatisation of Nigeria’s state-owned refineries. 

According to the coalition party, “This development, coming just months after government officials claimed the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries had resumed partial operations, raises fundamental questions about transparency and policy coherence.”

The federal government had recently announced that the refineries were already operating. 

ADC said, “It is, therefore, curious that the same government, having spent such humongous amounts on the refineries, is now planning to sell them off.  

“ADC is concerned about the perennial waste and underhanded dealings in the name of turnaround maintenance that never turned anything around but the personal fortunes of those involved. We believe this must not continue. 

“We are, however, suspicious of the current moves being made by the government to sell off the refineries outright without giving full considerations to alternative options and without consultations with critical stakeholders.

“Selling off the refineries under the prevailing circumstances is, indeed, conducive for all sorts of criminal dealings, whereby national assets could be deliberately devalued and sold to cronies.”

ADC called for a full and independent audit –financial, technical, and structural – before any sale or privatisation could be contemplated. 

The party said successive APC administrations had poured over $18 billion into the so-called rehabilitation of Nigeria’s refineries, stressing, “The current administration is reported to have spent another $2.8 billion under the same pretext. Yet there is no verifiable increase in refining capacity, no observable cost efficiency, and no fuel security benefit accruing to the Nigerian people.

“Instead, the same refineries have remained idle or dysfunctional, while the government continues to fund the importation of refined petroleum products.

“Even Africa’s foremost industrialist, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, whose private refinery now stands as the only viable refining asset in the country, has publicly stated his doubts that these government-owned refineries can ever work again. 

“And he is right to doubt. The infrastructure is obsolete, the operations are hollowed out, and the entire value-chain has become a black hole for public funds. So again, we must ask: what exactly is being sold, and why now?”

The statement said, “The truth is that if the intention all along was to privatise the refineries, then the years of huge public spending is at best a waste, and at worst a scam. 

“Government cannot, in good conscience, expend public funds on assets under the guise of rehabilitation, only to turn around and offer them for sale – without accountability on the investments already made and without any public reckoning. In other climes, those responsible for such transactions would have faced judgements.”

Abdullahi stated, “The ADC believes that before any conversation about privatisation can proceed, there must be a comprehensive forensic audit of all funds allocated to refinery rehabilitation from 2010 to date. 

“There must also be a third-party technical assessment to determine the true status and potential of the assets in question. 

“The audit findings must be presented in full to the public through a legislative hearing, with civil society, energy economists, and anti-corruption agencies present. Until then, any attempt to sell these refineries must be considered not just illegitimate, but criminal.

“This is not simply about public finance. It is about public trust. If this government truly believes in reform, then it must begin with the truth. And if it claims to be accountable, then it must submit itself to scrutiny.

“What we are witnessing is not a policy decision. It is a cover-up. And the ADC will not stand by while national assets are quietly auctioned to cronies and to mask years of systemic failure.”

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