A public affairs analyst and civil society advocate, Edward Abakpa has demanded the resignation of the Group Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Bayo Ojulari, over the state-owned firm’s latest Memorandum of Understanding with Chinese firms.
He disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday. This online medium reports that NNPCL and two Chinese firms signed an MoU on the restart of Port Harcourt and Warri refineries.
However, experts and Nigerians, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, had called for the suspension of the deal, describing it as another jamboree to squander public funds.
Meanwhile, an NNPCL official recently said the firm will not spend public money to achieve the deal.
Reacting, Abakpa faulted the continued opacity surrounding refinery rehabilitation spending and a fresh memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Chinese firms.
He noted that the absence of a comprehensive public audit of past refinery investments undermines confidence in new arrangements and raises questions about continuity in policy direction within the downstream petroleum sector.
“The central issue is accountability. Before entering into fresh arrangements, Nigerians deserve a detailed explanation of how over $3.5 billion previously committed to refinery rehabilitation was utilized, what work was actually completed, and why the refineries remain largely non-functional,” the statement said.
“It is unacceptable that after spending more than $3.5 billion on refinery rehabilitation over several phases, there is still no clear, commercially viable output from these facilities. Now we are being presented with another arrangement involving foreign partners without first resolving the accountability gap of the past,” he said.
“We cannot build new partnerships on a foundation of unresolved questions. Until Nigerians are told exactly what happened to the $3.5 billion already spent, every new deal will be viewed with suspicion,” he stated.
