Nigeria’s moribund refineries have swallowed billions without delivering results. President Bola Tinubu’s revival pledge therefore raises the question: why not sell them? Writes Festus Akanbi
Something is unsettling about Nigeria returning, yet again, to the familiar promise of reviving its state-owned refineries. After decades of turnaround maintenance, rehabilitation contracts, missed deadlines, and billions of dollars committed to plants that have repeatedly failed to operate sustainably, President Bola Tinubu’s renewed assurance that the refineries “are going to come back to work” raises an unavoidable question: at what point does perseverance cease to be a sound policy and become an expensive refusal to accept reality?
On Thursday, August 13, President Bola Tinubu told leaders of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) that the refineries would not be allowed to waste away. He acknowledged that merely producing “flame and smoke” was insufficient, insisting that a refinery must be profitable and deliver value. His administration, he said, would undertake research, restructuring and a fundamental reset before returning the facilities to productive operation.
