The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) has criticised Bayo Ojulari, the group chief executive officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, over his remarks on the Port Harcourt refinery and the Dangote refinery.
Ojulari had earlier urged Nigerians to “thank God” for the Dangote refinery, describing it as a critical “breathing space” following the shutdown of state-owned refineries, including the Port Harcourt plant.
According to him, there was no urgency to restart the Port Harcourt refinery, noting that fuel supply was currently being met by the privately owned Dangote facility. He also revealed that the government-owned refinery had been incurring massive losses before its closure.
However, PETROAN strongly rejected the comments, warning that the success of a private refinery must not be used to excuse the failure of public assets.
In a statement on Wednesday, PETROAN’s national public relations officer, Joseph Obele, said while the Dangote refinery is a landmark private investment, it cannot replace the government’s constitutional and economic responsibility to manage national assets effectively.
“Dangote Refinery is a private investment driven by profit and efficiency. NNPC, on the other hand, holds national assets in trust for Nigerians. One cannot be used as an excuse for the failure of the other,” Obele said.
He cautioned that repeated public admissions of failure by NNPC leadership could erode investor confidence, weaken Nigeria’s energy security, and undermine long-standing policies aimed at boosting domestic refining, stabilising fuel prices, and creating jobs.
Obele stressed that Ojulari’s appointment was meant to fix systemic problems within NNPC, not to retreat behind the success of private operators.
He described as “most worrisome” the suggestion that there was no urgency to restart the Port Harcourt refinery because Dangote was currently supplying the market.
“Such a statement is annoying, unacceptable, and indicative of leadership that is not solution-centric,” he said.
The PETROAN spokesperson warned against normalising waste, institutional failure, and post-hoc justifications for poor decisions, insisting that admitting failure must be followed by accountability, reforms, and a clear recovery plan.
He also revealed that PETROAN would engage civil society organisations and other stakeholders to explore legal options to demand the removal of the NNPC GCEO if the Port Harcourt refinery fails to resume operations on or before 1 March 2026.
According to him, the continued shutdown of the refinery, despite billions spent on rehabilitation, risks rust, corrosion and irreversible equipment damage, potentially rendering the entire revamp exercise futile.
