$1.5bn Wasted, No Fuel Produced” — Atiku Slams NNPCL Over Port Harcourt Refinery

Story: Written by Zara February 8,2026

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has taken a swipe at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) following reports that reviving the Port Harcourt Refinery is no longer economically feasible despite about $1.5 billion already spent on it.
In a statement posted on his official X handle on Sunday, Atiku said the admission by the national oil company validates his long-standing argument that continued public spending on Nigeria’s non-performing refineries amounts to a misuse of scarce resources.
According to him, the Tinubu administration has now been forced to confront what he described as an unavoidable reality—that pumping public funds into moribund refineries makes no economic sense. He lamented that after decades of so-called turnaround maintenance running into billions of dollars, Nigeria’s refineries are still unable to produce petrol, yet continue to gulp huge sums in salaries and overheads.
Atiku stressed that paying billions to maintain facilities that deliver zero output does not serve the national interest. He recalled that his consistent calls for the privatisation of the refineries were previously met with hostility and accusations of ulterior motives.
“Years of failed rehabilitation have exposed serious gaps in technical capacity, financial discipline and oversight,” he noted, adding that political pressure, rather than sound economic reasoning, has often driven attempts to revive the refineries.
The former vice president also cautioned against entering new refinery agreements, including partnerships with foreign firms, warning that such deals would only recycle models that have failed repeatedly in the past.
He argued that Nigeria would have been better served by selling off the refineries earlier, instead of sinking more public funds into projects that have ultimately increased debt and turned national assets into liabilities.