Following plans by the President Bola Tinubu administration to private the nation’s refineries days after spending about $2.8 billion on maintenance, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has demanded a comprehensive forensic audit of all funds allocated to refinery rehabilitation from 2010 to date.
The mega coalition party raised suspicion over the plan, arguing that federal 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 on the investments already made and without any public reckoning.
In a statement on Thursday by its Acting National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, ADC recalled that successive APC administrations have spent over $18 billion in the so-called rehabilitation of refineries.
Raising suspicion on the move by government, ADC argued that the plans for outright sell off the refineries, without giving full considerations to alternative options and without consultations with critical stakeholders calls for concern.
It said “the 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”.
The party recalled that the APC government recently announced that the refineries were already working. “It is therefore curious that the same government, having spent such humongous amounts on the refineries, is now planning to sell them off.
“ADC is concerned about the perennial waste and underhanded dealings in the name of turnaround maintenance that never turned anything around but the personal fortunes of those involved.
“We believe this must not continue. We are however suspicious of the current moves being made by the government to sell off the refineries outright without giving full considerations to alternative options and without consultations with critical stakeholders.
“Selling off the refineries under the prevailing circumstances is indeed conducive for all sorts of criminal dealings, whereby national assets could be deliberately devalued and sold to cronies.
“ADC therefore calls for a full and independent audit—financial, technical, and structural— before any sale is contemplated or privatisation is 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”.
The mega coalition recalled that Africa’s foremost industrialist, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, whose private refinery now stands as the only viable refining asset in the country, earlier voiced his doubts that the refineries can ever work again.
“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?” ADC asked.
According to the coalition party, “the truth is that if the intention all along was to privatise the refineries, then the years of huge public spending is 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 on the investments already made and without any public reckoning.
“In other climes, those responsible for such transactions would have faced judgments,” he said.
The ADC maintained 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 adding that a third-party technical assessment to determine the true status and potential of the assets in question must be constituted.
“The audit findings must be presented in full to the public through a legislative hearing, with civil society, energy economists, and anti-corruption agencies present.
“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,” Abdullahi stressed.
The party said that it will not stand by while national assets are quietly auctioned to cronies and to mask years of systemic failure.
