Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has called for the immediate suspension and full public scrutiny of the “Technical Equity Partnership” recently announced by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) involving two Chinese entities — Sanjiang Chemical Company Limited and Xingcheng (Fuzhou) Industrial Park Operation and Management Co. Ltd.

Daily Trust had reported how the oil firm announced that it was involved in a partnership with Chinese firms for refinery rehabilitation.

However, details of the amount involved were not made public, raising concerns about transperency.

In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku described the deal as another dangerous gamble with Nigeria’s economic future, accusing the Tinubu administration of attempting to mortgage critical national assets through opaque arrangements lacking technical credibility, transparency, and national accountability.

“It is both shocking and insulting that after wasting over $2.5 billion on endless refinery rehabilitation scandals, the NNPC is once again asking Nigerians to trust another experiment built on secrecy and questionable competence,” the statement said.

According to independent assessments of the two Chinese firms involved in the MoU, neither company possesses the pedigree, technical depth, or global reputation associated with the rehabilitation and management of complex crude oil refineries such as those in Port Harcourt and Warri.

The statement noted that Sanjiang Chemical, though a legitimate petrochemical company, is fundamentally a downstream fine chemicals manufacturer specializing in surfactants, ethylene oxide, methanol-to-olefins, and light hydrocarbon processing — not 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. Processing petrochemical derivatives is not the same as running an aging national refinery burdened with decades of operational decay,” Atiku stated.

Even more alarming, the second company, Xingcheng (Fuzhou) Industrial Park Operation and Management Co. Ltd, appears to have absolutely no verifiable experience in petroleum engineering, refinery operations, 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,” the statement added.

Atiku further questioned why the Federal Government and NNPC would deliberately bypass globally established refinery engineering and EPC firms with proven records, only to settle for entities whose backgrounds raise more questions than confidence.

The former Vice President warned that the Tinubu administration risks turning Nigeria’s refineries into another expensive black hole of failed promises, reckless experimentation, and opaque transactions.

“It is unacceptable that after years of failed Turnaround Maintenance scams, billions of dollars squandered, and repeated lies about refinery functionality, Nigerians are now being told to celebrate a Memorandum of Understanding signed with companies whose core expertise does not align with the technical realities of refinery rehabilitation.”

The statement also pointed to troubling financial signals surrounding Sanjiang Chemical itself. Despite being publicly listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, reports indicate declining revenues, shrinking profitability, and significant short-term debt exposure, with the company reportedly operating under liquidity pressure.

“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?” Atiku queried.

The former Vice President said the entire arrangement bears the disturbing fingerprints of another hurried and poorly scrutinized deal designed more for headline propaganda than sustainable national interest.

The shadiness of these agreements is a clear manifestation of the Tinubu Administration’s footprint in public sector financing — a pattern in which every policy action leaves a trail of corruption and underhand dealings

“Nigerians must not allow the same people who destroyed the refineries through incompetence and corruption to now hide behind vague Chinese partnerships to continue the cycle of deception.”

Atiku therefore demanded:

The immediate publication of the full terms of the MoU;

A transparent technical due diligence report on both firms;

Disclosure of the financial commitments and liabilities expected of Nigeria;

Open competitive engagement involving globally reputable refinery operators;

And a full legislative investigation into the billions previously spent on refinery rehabilitation without measurable results.

“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.”

The statement concluded by warning that Nigerians are watching closely and will hold accountable all those involved in any arrangement that further mortgages the country’s energy security and economic future. (Daily Trust)

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