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President Bola Tinubu has assured that Nigeria’s state-owned refineries will return to operation after undergoing a comprehensive restructuring process, but he did not provide a timeline for when the facilities would resume operations.

The president made the disclosure on Thursday in Abuja while receiving the National Executive of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), led by its National President, Comrade Salimon Akanni Oladiti, at the State House.

His comments come months after Nigeria’s state-owned refineries were shut down in February this year after the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) revealed that internal assessments showed the facilities were operating at ‘monumental losses’ and destroying national value.

What Tinubu is saying

Responding to a request by NUPENG to revive the nation’s refineries, Tinubu said he would not allow the huge investments made in the facilities over many years to go to waste, promising what he described as a structural reworking of the refineries’ economic model.

He said the government would pursue detailed technical assessments and a long-term restructuring process aimed at making the refineries commercially viable rather than merely operational.

• “The refineries that you mentioned are going to come back to work; we’re just building a very firm, resetting, and structural reworking of the economy of it. Ordinary flame and smoke of a refinery doesn’t mean that it’s working until it’s profitable and yields the value for which it is built,” the president said.

Tinubu acknowledged the years of dysfunction that have plagued the refineries, saying his administration had accepted the assets and liabilities inherited from previous governments and would focus on fixing the facilities.

• “No matter what has happened in the years past, it’s now my responsibility as president to fix it and make it work for the greatest common good of our population. I take responsibility for that, and we will do it.”

Get up to speed

The latest assurance comes against the backdrop of years of failed rehabilitation efforts and repeated delays in restoring Nigeria’s refining capacity.

• Although the refineries were not fully operational, NNPC Ltd. in June 2025 ruled out plans to sell the Port Harcourt Refining Company, insisting it would retain ownership of the asset and continue rehabilitation efforts despite growing calls for privatisation.
• By August 2025, pressure had intensified, with the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria urging the NNPC leadership to either complete the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery or step aside after a scheduled 30-day maintenance programme extended beyond 80 days.
• In October 2025, Nairametrics reported that NNPC Ltd. had commenced a detailed technical and commercial review of the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries to determine whether the facilities remained operationally and financially viable.

The review came after about $4 billion had been spent on refinery rehabilitation under the former NNPC Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari. However, subsequent internal assessments reportedly showed that the refineries were operating at “monumental losses” and eroding national value, a development that ultimately led to their shutdown earlier this year.

What you should know

Despite decades of poor performance and repeated rehabilitation programmes, successive Nigerian governments have continued to retain the state-owned refineries rather than dispose of them.

• In May this year, Nairametrics reported that NNPC Ltd. signed a Memorandum of Understanding with two Chinese companies as part of efforts to restart and expand the Warri and Port Harcourt refineries.
• The agreement was executed in Jiaxing City, China, on April 30, 2026, by NNPC Group Chief Executive Officer Bashir Bayo Ojulari and officials of Sanjiang Chemical Company and Xinganchen (Fuzhou) Industrial Park Operation and Management Co. Ltd.
• In April, the company also denied claims that it was selling scrap materials from its refineries, warning the public against fraudsters circulating such information.

More recently, in July, the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria urged NNPC Ltd. to resume operations at the government-owned refineries, arguing that functional domestic refineries would help stabilise fuel prices, deepen competition in the downstream sector and strengthen Nigeria’s energy security.