{"id":72455,"date":"2025-08-07T10:56:22","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T10:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=72455"},"modified":"2025-08-07T10:56:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T10:56:22","slug":"stakeholder-urges-tinubu-to-privatise-port-harcourt-refinery-criticises-nnpcs-retention-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/08\/07\/stakeholder-urges-tinubu-to-privatise-port-harcourt-refinery-criticises-nnpcs-retention-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Stakeholder Urges Tinubu to Privatise Port Harcourt Refinery, Criticises NNPC&#8217;s Retention Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Merciful Omoba<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Joseph Obele, National Publicity Secretary of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), has called on President Bola Tinubu to privatise the Port Harcourt Refining Company, condemning the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC)\u2019s decision to retain ownership.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Speaking as a stakeholder from the Port Harcourt community, Obele described the NNPC\u2019s recent announcement as a setback to national progress, citing decades of inefficiency, corruption, and mismanagement within the company.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is not good news,\u201d he said. \u201cNNPC plans to retain the Port Harcourt refinery while proposing to sell Warri and Kaduna refineries. Their record is littered with consistent failures, persistent fuel scarcity, and poor management.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Obele argued that privatisation would drive efficiency, accountability, and community engagement.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He cited Indorama Petrochemical as an example of a successful privately run operation responsive to host community needs.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He urged the Tinubu administration to reconsider the decision and open the Port Harcourt refinery to private investors, noting potential gains in job creation, reduced corruption, and local development.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are ready to welcome any serious private investor with full community cooperation. This will not only uplift our people but also contribute meaningfully to Nigeria\u2019s economic growth,\u201d Obele added.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Last week, NNPC reiterated its commitment to retaining the refinery, stating that technical and financial evaluations support ongoing in-house rehabilitation. Group CEO Bayo Ojulari warned that privatisation could result in further value erosion.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Port Harcourt refinery, shut down in May for maintenance, remains closed two months later.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Dangote Group President Aliko Dangote recently cast doubt on the viability of state-owned refineries, noting they have consumed up to $18 billion with little return.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Merciful Omoba &nbsp; Joseph Obele, National Publicity Secretary of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), has called on President Bola Tinubu to privatise the Port Harcourt Refining Company, condemning the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC)\u2019s decision to retain ownership. &nbsp; Speaking as a stakeholder from the Port Harcourt community, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":72456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72455"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72457,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72455\/revisions\/72457"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}