The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has expressed strong concerns over a new refinery rehabilitation agreement between the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Limited) and Chinese firms, calling for full transparency and accountability in the deal.
NECA’s Director-General, Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, raised the concerns in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on May 4 covering refinery rehabilitation and expansion projects.
The statement, titled “Enough of MoU Governance and Failed Revamps on Port Harcourt and Other Refineries,” questioned the rationale behind continued rehabilitation efforts despite years of limited success.
Oyerinde warned that Nigeria could not afford another failed refinery rehabilitation project after reportedly spending about $25 billion on turnaround maintenance with little or no sustainable results.
“It will be unpatriotic to endorse another opaque refinery deal while questions surrounding past spending and failed rehabilitation projects remain unresolved,” he said.
He stressed that repeated attempts to fix refineries, particularly the Port Harcourt facility, had not delivered meaningful or lasting output despite huge public investment over the years.
“Nigeria cannot continue spending billions of dollars on refinery turnaround maintenance without sustainable refining output or measurable economic value,” he added.
The NECA boss urged the NNPC Limited to rebuild public trust by embracing transparency, accountability and a clear commercial strategy that can end recurring failures in refinery rehabilitation.
He also called for full disclosure of key details surrounding the new agreement, including technical partnerships, local content participation and technology transfer arrangements.
According to him, businesses in Nigeria have continued to suffer from persistent energy insecurity, high production costs, fuel import dependence and job losses linked to the poor performance of local refineries.
Oyerinde reiterated NECA’s long-standing position that Nigeria should consider privatisation or concession of its refineries, arguing that meaningful governance reforms must come before further rehabilitation spending.
He said the association would only support refinery revamp initiatives if they are carried out under transparent, accountable and economically viable frameworks capable of restoring public confidence.
The concerns come amid renewed government efforts to rehabilitate and expand Nigeria’s refinery infrastructure as part of broader reforms in the downstream oil sector, which has faced decades of inefficiency and underperformance.
