NNPCL-Chinese Firms Refinery Deal Will Strengthen Energy Security – CSO

A civil society organisation has supported the Memorandum of Understanding between the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited(NNPCL) and two Chinese firms — Sanjiang Chemical Company Limited and Xinganchen (Fuzhou) Industrial Park Operation and Management Co. Ltd for the rehabilitation, restart, and expansion of the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries.

The CSO known as Nigeria Citizens Watch for Good Governance said if faithfully executed, the deal will fundamentally restructure Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector, strengthen energy security, create mass employment, and stop the recurrent haemorrhage of scarce foreign exchange on fuel importation.

Citizens Watch for Good Governance in a statement issued by its chairman, Collins Eshiofeh, said the MoU is arguably the most consequential refinery intervention since the country’s return to democratic governance.

It noted for decades, successive administrations and previous NNPC leaderships allocated and allegedly expended billions of dollars on turn-around maintenance and rehabilitation projects for the refineries, yet the result had been consistent failure.

“At various points, the public was subjected to theatrical displays of momentary flaring and smoke from the stacks, only for the refineries to collapse again within days or hours, while the billions sunk into the projects vanished without a trace.

“Nigerians grew used to hearing that refineries had commenced production, only for the headlines to fade and the queues to return. Every single dollar of that wasted expenditure occurred under past leaderships, not under the current management team led by Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari.

“This painful history bred deep cynicism. It is the reason many citizens initially greeted the news of yet another rehabilitation agreement with scepticism. We share that fatigue. The nation has wasted far too much time and money on phantom repairs while importers drained the Central Bank’s foreign reserves to bring in petroleum products that Nigeria, with some of the finest crude oil in the world, has no business importing.

“The defining difference this time lies in the calibre and proven capacity of the Chinese partners. China is not merely a country. It is the most consequential economic and industrial growth story of the 21st century.

“Chinese firms dominate global infrastructure, manufacturing, and energy technology through a unique combination of world-class innovation, disciplined execution, and massive technical know‑how. They do not merely sign agreements. They deliver functional, competitive, state-of-the-art facilities, on schedule and at scale.

“The same Chinese tradition of delivery is what this MoU transplants into our refining sub-sector, with Sanjiang Chemical and Xinganchen taking an equity stake that permanently aligns their balance sheets with the operational fate of Port Harcourt and Warri.

“We align ourselves with the timely and patriotic statement of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers under its new National Executive President, Comrade Otunba Salmon Akanni Oladiti.

“This rehabilitation must not become another political announcement that vanishes. It must translate into real economic relief, real wages for workers, and real development for host communities in the Niger Delta and across the country.

“We therefore urge Nigerians to sit tight and watch the good that will unfold from this landmark deal. Very soon, the flaring stacks of Port Harcourt and Warri will not be staged for cameras. They will burn steadily as a symbol of a nation finally refining its own crude, reclaiming its economic dignity, and restoring hope,” the statement reads in parts.