President Bola Tinubu has reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to rehabilitating and repositioning Nigeria’s dormant national refineries, declaring that the facilities will not be allowed to become stranded investments despite the growing capacity of privately owned refineries.

The President made this known on Monday in Lagos at the 20th OTL Africa Downstream Energy Week. He was represented at the event by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Patience Oyekunle.

Tinubu said the Federal Government was adopting a more rigorous and commercially sustainable approach to the rehabilitation of the country’s refineries, with emphasis on technical assessments, stronger partnerships and improved operational discipline.

He stressed that Nigeria’s national refining assets remained important to the country’s energy security and petroleum industry, adding that the government was determined to ensure that investments in the facilities were not wasted.

The refineries affected include the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries, which are managed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited. The facilities have remained largely inactive despite billions of naira reportedly spent on turnaround maintenance over the years.

The President explained that the new approach would focus on establishing the technical and commercial viability of the facilities, strengthening partnerships and improving operational efficiency to support sustainable operations.

Meanwhile, the current management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has signed a memorandum of understanding with two Chinese firms for the rehabilitation of the refineries.

The proposed collaboration is expected to support efforts to restore the facilities, although the scope, implementation schedule and expected completion dates were not detailed in the report.

Tinubu’s renewed commitment comes amid increasing activity in Nigeria’s private refining sector, which has heightened the need for the government to reposition its own refining assets to operate more efficiently and sustainably.

The revival of the national refineries could help strengthen domestic refining capacity, improve the security of petroleum product supply and reduce reliance on imported refined products if the rehabilitation programme is successfully implemented.

However, the success of the initiative will depend on the technical condition of the facilities, the financing and execution of the rehabilitation programme, effective management and the ability to sustain operations after the plants are restored.

The President maintained that the government remained committed to ensuring that the country’s national refining assets were rehabilitated and repositioned through a commercially viable process.