Tinubu Assures Nigerians of Government’s Plan to Revive Refineries
President Bola Tinubu has assured Nigerians that the country’s government-owned refineries will return to full operation, pledging a comprehensive structural and economic reset of the facilities rather than short-term interventions, as he received the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Thursday.
Responding directly to concerns raised by the union over the long-delayed revival of Nigeria’s state-owned refineries, Tinubu declared that the facilities are going to come back to work, describing the effort as building a firm reset and structural reworking of the economics behind them. The President stressed that the return of the refineries would not be measured by their physical operation alone, but by their ability to generate genuine value, noting that ordinary flame and smoke from a refinery does not mean it is working until it becomes profitable and yields the value for which it was built. PM News NigeriaQED.NG
Tinubu explained that the government would deploy detailed research, technical assessments, and structural reviews to identify the operational, financial, and managerial challenges responsible for the refineries’ poor performance, and to develop sustainable, long-term solutions rather than temporary fixes. He affirmed that his administration had taken full ownership of fixing the country’s inherited assets and liabilities, stating that regardless of what happened in past years, it is now his responsibility as president to fix the refineries and make them work for the greatest common good of the population. PM News Nigeria
NUPENG’s National President, Comrade Salimon Akanni Oladiti, who led the union’s delegation, commended the administration’s ongoing efforts to revive the Warri and Port Harcourt refineries through partnerships with Chinese firms, while urging the government to extend the same intervention to the country’s ageing Nigerian Pipelines and Storage Company (NPSC) depots nationwide. Oladiti recommended that the depots be handed over to private investors under an equity arrangement to help restore their functionality, and separately appealed to the President to press state governors to comply with the Supreme Court judgment affirming the financial autonomy of local governments.
Beyond refineries, Tinubu also addressed the ongoing rollout of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as an alternative fuel source, expressing concern that expected benefits from the initiative appear to be accruing largely to truck owners rather than being fully passed on to ordinary Nigerians. He further defended his administration’s removal of the fuel subsidy, pushing back against the narrative that the policy had primarily hurt the common man, and instead argued that ordinary salary earners across all tiers of government have been among the main beneficiaries of the resulting reforms.
In recognition of what it described as the President’s engagement and partnership with the sector, NUPENG’s leadership conferred on Tinubu the honorary title of Grand Patron of the union during the visit. Closing the engagement, Tinubu urged Nigerians to remain patient with the pace of ongoing economic reforms, stating that perseverance, endurance, and determination remain central to bringing about lasting relief for the country.
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