ABUJA — The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, has called on the public and media to hold the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) directly accountable for recurring delays and operational failures across the country’s state-owned refineries.
Appearing on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, Lokpobiri firmly distanced the Ministry of Petroleum Resources from the execution and day-to-day management of the multi-billion-dollar turnaround maintenance projects at the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refining facilities.
Responding to probing questions regarding why the state-owned refineries remain idle despite previous executive assurances and repeated completion deadlines, the minister emphasized that NNPCL operates as an independent corporate entity under the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) and must account for its commercial commitments. He urged citizens to direct questions regarding project timelines, expenditures, and technical readiness to the management and board of NNPCL rather than government political appointees.
Addressing the financial outlay on the assets, Lokpobiri disclosed that out of the $1.5 billion allocated for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refining Company, approximately $1.4 billion had already been spent prior to his assumption of office. He clarified that the procurement, contracting, and funds disbursement were handled entirely by NNPCL management, adding that negotiations are currently underway with Chinese partners and international consortiums to re-engineer operational strategies for the non-functional plants.
The minister also weighed in on broader energy politics and pricing, defending the administration’s complete deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector. Rebuffing proposals by opposition leaders for crude production subsidies to lower retail fuel costs, Lokpobiri warned that retaining petrol subsidies would have bled Nigeria’s treasury by up to ₦21 trillion annually at current market exchange rates. He maintained that savings from subsidy removal are directly fueling higher monthly FAAC allocations to state and local governments, while deregulation has fostered the commercial environment necessary to sustain local refining investments like the Dangote Refinery.
By Ayodele Quadri, Lagos Times Correspondent
