Don’t rush Nigerian refinery sales — Iledare warns, gives Tinubu, NNPCL best solution
A Professor emeritus of Petroleum Economics, Wumi Iledare, has warned against the hasty sale of Nigeria’s state-owned Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries.
He urged President Bola Tinubu and NNPCL to adopt a more strategic, transparent approach aligned with national interest in the management of the refineries.
Iledare spoke in a statement at the weekend.
His remarks is coming after the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Bayo Ojulari, in a recent interview with Bloomberg, hinted at selling the nation’s refineries after a review of the plants is concluded.
Reacting, Iledare said inefficiency, not ownership, is the core issue of the state-owned refineries.
“Ownership isn’t the core issue —inefficiency is,” he stated.
According to him, “Selling the refineries without tackling systemic governance failures could repeat past mistakes and threaten energy security.”
He recommended exploring hybrid models such as public-private partnerships and performance-based concessions, consistent with the commercial spirit of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.
“Privatisation must not become monopoly or elite capture,” he warned. “The real goal is to unlock value and reposition the downstream sector for sustainable growth.”
This comes as NNPCL in May 2025 announced the shutdown of Port Harcourt Refinery for maintenance and review.
The Warri and Kaduna refineries are not operating despite heavy financial investment in their rehabilitation.
DAILY POST reports that the President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, recently said that NNPCL refineries may not work again.
Don’t rush Nigerian refinery sales — Iledare warns, gives Tinubu, NNPCL best solution
