ADC to FG: You can’t spend billions to repair refineries and sell without full audit

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has demanded a full audit of Nigeria’s refineries, citing recent reports that allege successive governments have spent nearly $18 billion on the rehabilitation of the country’s three major refineries.

In a statement by the ADC’s National Publicity Secretary and Coalition Spokesperson, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party questioned whether the Tinubu administration has been deceiving Nigerians—having recently spent over $2.8 billion on the refineries—before declaring them moribund.

The full statement reads:

“The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has noted with deep concern the recent confirmation by the Tinubu administration and the leadership of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) that the federal government is proceeding with the full privatisation of Nigeria’s state-owned refineries.

“This development, coming just months after government officials claimed that the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries had resumed partial operations, raises fundamental questions about transparency and policy coherence.

“It will be recalled that the APC government recently announced that the refineries were already functioning. It is therefore curious that the same government, having spent such humongous amounts on them, is now planning to sell them off.

“The ADC is concerned about the perennial waste and underhanded dealings in the name of turnaround maintenance, which never turned anything around except the personal fortunes of those involved. We believe this must not continue. We are, however, suspicious of the current moves by the government to sell off the refineries outright, without giving full consideration to alternative options or consulting critical stakeholders.

“Selling off the refineries under the prevailing circumstances is indeed conducive to all sorts of criminal dealings, whereby national assets could be deliberately devalued and sold to cronies.

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“The ADC therefore calls for a full and independent audit—financial, technical, and structural—before any sale is contemplated or privatisation considered.

“Successive APC administrations have poured over $18 billion into the so-called rehabilitation of Nigeria’s refineries. The current administration is reported to have spent another $2.8 billion under the same pretext. Yet, there is no verifiable increase in refining capacity, no observable cost efficiency, and no fuel security benefit accruing to the Nigerian people. Instead, the same refineries have remained idle or dysfunctional, while the government continues to fund the importation of refined petroleum products.

“Even Africa’s foremost industrialist, Alhaji Aliko Dangote—whose private refinery now stands as the only viable refining asset in the country—has publicly stated his doubts that these government-owned refineries can ever work again. And he is right to doubt. The infrastructure is obsolete, the operations are hollowed out, and the entire value chain has become a black hole for public funds. So again, we must ask: what exactly is being sold, and why now?

“The truth is, if the intention all along was to privatise the refineries, then the years of huge public spending were, at best, a waste—and at worst, a scam.

“Government cannot, in good conscience, expend public funds on assets under the guise of rehabilitation, only to turn around and offer them for sale—without accountability for the investments already made, and without any public reckoning. In other climes, those responsible for such transactions would have faced justice.

“The ADC believes that before any conversation about privatisation can proceed, there must be a comprehensive forensic audit of all funds allocated to refinery rehabilitation from 2010 to date. There must also be a third-party technical assessment to determine the true status and potential of the assets in question.

“The audit findings must be presented in full to the public through a legislative hearing, with civil society, energy economists, and anti-corruption agencies in attendance. Until then, any attempt to sell these refineries must be considered not just illegitimate, but criminal.

“This is not simply about public finance—it is about public trust. If this government truly believes in reform, then it must begin with the truth. And if it claims to be accountable, then it must submit itself to scrutiny.

“What we are witnessing is not a policy decision. It is a cover-up. And the ADC will not stand by while national assets are quietly auctioned to cronies, masking years of systemic failure.”

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE