NNPCL AND THE CURIOUS MOU

The Chinese MOU is a familiar one with different address

The latest announcement by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) of a fresh Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Chinese firms to ‘restart, expand and operate’ the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries is rather troubling. It is a reminder of a long, expensive cycle of opaque investments that have defined Nigeria’s refinery rehabilitation story for decades. Last Monday, the national oil company confirmed it had signed an MoU with Sanjiang Chemical Company Limited and Xingcheng (Fuzhou) Industrial Park Operation and Management Co. Ltd as part of a proposed technical equity partnership to complete and operate the refineries. The language is familiar: “Completion,” “efficiency,” and “long-term sustainability.” But Nigerians have heard all of this before.

 In 2021, the federal government approved one of the single most ambitious refinery rehabilitation programmes in Nigeria’s history valued at roughly $3 billion. The breakdown revealed that for the Port Harcourt refinery, the government approved $1.5 billion, with the contract awarded to Tecnimont for a comprehensive engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning overhaul. The timeline was equally clear: phased rehabilitation with mechanical completion expected within 18 to 24 months, and initial production targeted soon after. For the Warri refinery, $897 million was approved as part of a combined $1.48 billion package for Warri and Kaduna, with Daewoo Engineering handling the rehabilitation. The expectation was that Warri would return to operation by 2023–2024. Besides, Kaduna refinery received approximately $586 million under the same approval, with a broader mandate to not just repair but reconfigure the plant to process more complex crude blends.  It was projected to come on stream by late 2024. In total, the Muhammadu Buhari-era refinery reset was supposed to restore about 445,000 barrels per day of domestic refining capacity within a defined timeframe. All these refineries have remained largely idle.

Yet these contracts were not vague aspirations. They were specific, funded, and time-bound commitments. Today, those timelines have collapsed, the facilities are idle, and accountability remains elusive. Yes, there were probes by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), alongside legislative investigations into the billions of dollars sunk into non-performing assets. But all this also looked like the usual initial noise associated with such high-profile cases. Up until today, the results of those probes have not been made public while the persons deeply involved in the process that led to the clear failure walk the streets free.

As it is, Nigeria’s refinery rehabilitation has become a revolving door of technical studies, foreign partnerships, and political declarations each presented as a breakthrough, yet none delivering sustained results. Therefore, before committing the nation to another round of agreements, the NNPCL must publish a full audit of the last rehabilitation cycle: funds disbursed, milestones achieved, contractors paid, and reasons for failure. The concerned agencies must also clarify the status of ongoing investigations and ensure that culpability, where established, is not buried beneath fresh contracts. Until the issue of accountability is fixed, no amount of foreign partnership will deliver the outcome that decades of spending have failed to achieve.

This development also raises questions over NNPC’s transformation into a limited liability company in 2022, a move that was supposed to mark a new era of transparency and efficiency. Yet, the persistence of these unresolved questions suggests that the structural change has not yet been translated into operational accountability. A commercial entity, by definition, must justify its investments, disclose its performance, and be answerable for failures. NNPC must now be judged by that standard, not by press releases.

 Without full disclosure of past expenditures, clear timelines, and enforceable performance benchmarks, the newly signed MoU risks becoming another entry in Nigeria’s long ledger of refinery disappointments. What Nigerians deserve is not another MoU. They deserve answers. Until the questions are addressed convincingly, every new agreement no matter how well packaged, will be viewed as another scam.