Atiku Demands Halt to NNPC’s P’Harcourt, Warri Refineries Deal With Chinese Firms
.Says independent assessments show firms lack technical depth
.Group says deal strategic masterstroke for energy security, economic renewal
Chuks Okocha and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar yesterday called for the immediate suspension and public scrutiny of the “Technical Equity Partnership” recently announced by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) involving two Chinese firms, Sanjiang Chemical Company Limited and Xingcheng (Fuzhou) Industrial Park Operation and Management Co. Ltd.
This was as the Nigeria Citizens Watch for Good Governance has described the recent Memorandum of Understanding between NNPCL and two Chinese firms as a strategic masterstroke for energy security and economic renewal.
Atiku, in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, described the deal as “another dangerous gamble” with Nigeria’s economic future.
The chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) accused the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of attempting to mortgage critical national assets through opaque arrangements allegedly lacking technical credibility, transparency and accountability.
He said, “We are demanding an immediate suspension and public scrutiny of the Technical Equity Partnership announced by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited involving two Chinese firms, Sanjiang Chemical Company Limited and Xingcheng (Fuzhou) Industrial Park Operation and Management Co. Ltd.
“It is both shocking and insulting that after wasting over $2.5 billion on endless refinery rehabilitation scandals, the NNPC is once again asking Nigerians to trust another experiment built on secrecy and questionable competence.”
According to him, independent assessments of the two Chinese firms involved in the Memorandum of Understanding indicated that neither company possesses the pedigree, technical depth, or global reputation associated with the rehabilitation and management of complex crude oil refineries such as those in Port Harcourt and Warri.
The statement noted that Sanjiang Chemical, though a legitimate petrochemical company, primarily specialises in surfactants, ethylene oxide, methanol-to-olefins, and light hydrocarbon processing rather than crude oil refining.
“There is no publicly available evidence anywhere in the world showing that Sanjiang has ever built, operated, or managed a full-scale crude oil refinery of the magnitude and complexity of Port Harcourt or Warri refineries.
“Processing petrochemical derivatives is not the same as running an ageing national refinery burdened with decades of operational decay,” Atiku stated.
He also questioned the competence of the second company, Xingcheng (Fuzhou) Industrial Park Operation and Management Co., Ltd., alleging that available corporate and industry records did not show verifiable experience in petroleum engineering, refinery operations, or hydrocarbon processing.
“By every available corporate and industry record, Xingcheng is essentially an industrial park and infrastructure management company — the equivalent of handing over a hospital’s intensive care unit to a real estate developer simply because they can construct buildings,” the statement added.
The former Vice President further queried why the federal government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited would bypass globally established refinery engineering and EPC firms in favour of entities whose backgrounds, he said, raised “more questions than confidence.”
He warned that the administration risks turning Nigeria’s refineries into “another expensive black hole of failed promises, reckless experimentation, and opaque transactions.”
“It is unacceptable that after years of failed Turnaround Maintenance scams, billions of dollars squandered, and repeated lies about refinery functionality, Nigerians are now being told to celebrate a Memorandum of Understanding signed with companies whose core expertise does not align with the technical realities of refinery rehabilitation,” the statement said.
Atiku also cited what he described as troubling financial indicators surrounding Sanjiang Chemical, alleging that reports pointed to declining revenues, shrinking profitability, and significant short-term debt exposure.
“This raises a fundamental question: if a company is already battling financial compression and liquidity concerns in its own operations, how exactly does it intend to shoulder the burden of reviving two of Africa’s most troubled refineries?” he queried.
The former VP argued that the entire arrangement bore “the disturbing fingerprints of another hurried and poorly scrutinised deal designed more for headline propaganda than sustainable national interest.”
He said, “Nigerians must not allow the same people who destroyed the refineries through incompetence and corruption to now hide behind vague Chinese partnerships to continue the cycle of deception.
“The era where NNPC signs opaque agreements abroad and expects Nigerians to clap blindly is over. National assets are not toys for bureaucratic experimentation. The Port Harcourt and Warri refineries are too strategic to be surrendered to uncertainty, obscurity, and corporate guesswork.”
But contrary to Atiku’s position, Chairman of the Nigeria Citizens Watch for Good Governance, Mr. Collins Eshiofeh, in a statement issued yesterday said this agreement represented a bold, forward-looking step that, if faithfully executed, would fundamentally restructure Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector.
It added that it would also strengthen energy security, create mass employment, and stop the recurrent haemorrhage of scarce foreign exchange on fuel importation.
The group added that it was arguably the most consequential refinery intervention since the country’s return to democratic governance.
It recalled that for decades, successive administrations and previous NNPC leaderships allocated and allegedly expended billions of dollars on turn-around maintenance and rehabilitation projects for our refineries, yet the result has been consistent failure.
The group noted that the nation has wasted far too much time and money on phantom repairs, while importers drained the Central Bank’s foreign reserves to bring in petroleum products that Nigeria, with some of the finest crude oil in the world, has no business importing.
It stressed that the defining difference this time lies in the calibre and proven capacity of the Chinese partners., adding that China is not merely a country.
The group commended the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Ltd, Bayo Ojulari, and his management team for their courage and foresight, stressing that rather than recycle the same failed templates, he looked outward, conducted six months of rigorous engagement, and eventually situated the partnership in China,
It noted, “To the sceptics and to those who have been disappointed before, we say give peace a chance, give this partnership a chance. The configuration is different. The partners are tested and trusted global players.
“The NNPC leadership is technically grounded and result‑driven. The billions wasted in the past were wasted by other hands, not by Bayo Ojulari. Since his arrival, the approach has been commercially disciplined, transparent, and anchored on equity partnerships that share risk. What we are witnessing is not a repeat of past errors but a structural break from them.
“We therefore urge Nigerians to sit tight and watch the good that will unfold from this landmark deal. Very soon, the flaring stacks of Port Harcourt and Warri will not be staged for cameras. They will burn steadily as a symbol of a nation finally refining its own crude, reclaiming its economic dignity, and restoring hope.”
