Atiku Blasts Tinubu Over ‘Shady’ NNPC Refinery Deal With Chinese Firms, Demands Suspension

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has called for the immediate suspension of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL)’s refinery partnership deal with two Chinese firms, describing the arrangement as opaque, risky, and lacking technical credibility.

In a statement issued on Friday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku accused the administration of President Bola Tinubu of attempting to mortgage Nigeria’s critical oil assets through questionable agreements disguised as a “Technical Equity Partnership.”

The former Vice President specifically faulted the recently announced Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between NNPC Ltd. and two Chinese companies, Sanjiang Chemical Company Limited and Xingcheng (Fuzhou) Industrial Park Operation and Management Co. Ltd over the rehabilitation and management of the Port Harcourt Refinery and Warri Refinery.

Atiku said it was “both shocking and insulting” that after allegedly spending over $2.5 billion on refinery rehabilitation projects, Nigerians were being asked to trust “another experiment built on secrecy and questionable competence.”

According to him, independent assessments of the two Chinese firms show neither possesses the technical pedigree or global reputation required to manage complex crude oil refineries.

The former Vice President argued that Sanjiang Chemical, though a legitimate petrochemical company, primarily specialised in surfactants, ethylene oxide, methanol-to-olefins, and light hydrocarbon processing rather than crude oil refining.

“There is no publicly available evidence anywhere in the world showing that Sanjiang has ever built, operated, or managed a full-scale crude oil refinery of the magnitude and complexity of Port Harcourt or Warri refineries,” Atiku stated.

He further alleged that Xingcheng (Fuzhou) Industrial Park Operation and Management Co. Ltd appears to have no verifiable experience in refinery operations, petroleum engineering, or hydrocarbon processing.

“By every available corporate and industry record, Xingcheng is essentially an industrial park and infrastructure management company, the equivalent of handing over a hospital’s intensive care unit to a real estate developer simply because they can construct buildings,” he said.

Atiku questioned why the Federal Government and NNPC allegedly bypassed globally established refinery engineering and EPC firms in favour of companies whose backgrounds, according to him, “raise more questions than confidence.”

He warned that the Tinubu administration risked turning Nigeria’s refineries into “another expensive black hole of failed promises, reckless experimentation, and opaque transactions.”

The former Vice President also raised concerns over the financial health of Sanjiang Chemical, claiming reports indicate the company is battling declining revenues, shrinking profitability, and liquidity pressures despite being listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

“This raises a fundamental question: if a company is already battling financial compression and liquidity concerns in its own operations, how exactly does it intend to shoulder the burden of reviving two of Africa’s most troubled refineries?” he queried.

Atiku described the agreement as another example of what he called the Tinubu administration’s pattern of opaque public sector financing and alleged corruption.

“The era where NNPC signs opaque agreements abroad and expects Nigerians to clap blindly is over. National assets are not toys for bureaucratic experimentation. The Port Harcourt and Warri refineries are too strategic to be surrendered to uncertainty, obscurity, and corporate guesswork,” he stated.

He, therefore, demanded the immediate publication of the full terms of the MoU, a transparent technical due diligence report on both firms, disclosure of Nigeria’s financial liabilities under the agreement, and a legislative probe into previous refinery rehabilitation expenditures.

The statement concluded with a warning that Nigerians would hold accountable all officials involved in any arrangement capable of undermining the country’s energy security and economic future.