ABUJA — The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has issued a stern warning against any proposals or calls to sell off the nation’s state-owned refineries as scrap, insisting that the multi-billion dollar industrial complexes remain vital national assets currently undergoing structured rehabilitation.
The state oil firm made the position clear during an executive briefing in Abuja, directly addressing growing public debate and calls from certain economic analysts urging the Federal Government to liquidate the non-functional refining facilities in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna.
NNPC management emphasized that classifying complex refining infrastructure as scrap ignores the massive ongoing technical investments, civil work, and high-value machinery already installed across the plants under the national refinery rehabilitation program.
The company reassured citizens and stakeholders that current technical partnerships and engineering revamps are aimed at restoring domestic refining capacity to reduce reliance on imported petroleum products, preserve foreign exchange reserves, and guarantee long-term national energy security.
NNPC reiterated its commitment to transparency and operational efficiency, cautioning that premature distress sales or asset stripping would undermine decades of public capital investments and severely harm Nigeria’s industrial sovereignty.
