The President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Festus Osifo, has dismissed claims that Nigeria’s state-owned refineries never worked.

Osifo stated this in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday.

“I’m an engineer of over 20 years standing, and I understand how mechanics work.

“So I know a system that is working, and I know a system that doesn’t work. I listened to a programme that said the refinery never worked. It’s not correct, the refinery worked,” he said.

The TUC chief explained that the problem was not inactivity but inefficiency.

There is a difference between a piece of equipment working and a piece of equipment working efficiently. In engineering, these are two different things,” said Osifo.

Why Refineries Were Shut Down

However, Osifo clarified that the country’s refineries were shut because they were operating at a loss.

“When you feed crude that costs 10 million dollars into the refinery and end up with products worth about 9.5 million dollars, it means you are running at a loss.

“That was exactly what happened, not that the refineries were not working,” he said.

He added that during a visit to the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Limited, the union was told the shutdown was due to “material balance”.

“The material you feed into the refinery and what you are getting out was reduced in terms of value. So that was why they shut it down to restructure the strategy,” Osifo said.

The TUC President further noted that there was also a technology gap.

“When those refineries were working 15 to 20 years ago, the old refinery was feeding products into the new one.

“The new refinery would then refine, for example, PMS, to the right specification. But the government wanted a quick fix by separating both units, which created a material balance challenge,” he added.

Private Sector Involvement

Osifo urged the government to give private investors controlling stakes in the refineries.

“What we have advised, and what we have advocated for in the last 20 years, is that the government should give private investors a 51 per cent stake in the refineries.

“Once they become the largest shareholders, they will be able to run them efficiently,” the TUC president said.

The Port Harcourt Refinery

Nigeria has four main state-owned refineries in Port Harcourt (Rivers State), Warri (Delta State), and Kaduna (Kaduna State), with a combined installed capacity of about 445,000 barrels per day.

For decades, the facilities underperformed due to poor maintenance, inefficiency, and pipeline vandalism.

After long periods of inactivity, rehabilitation efforts in late 2024 and early 2025 led to the restart of the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, though only at partial capacity.

The Dangote Refinery was commissioned in May 2023.

In contrast, the Dangote Refinery in Lagos has raised hopes of reducing fuel imports and boosting local refining.

However, it has also sparked concerns about a potential monopoly in the energy sector.

With a nameplate capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, Dangote Refinery is Africa’s biggest oil refinery.

By early 2025, it was operating at about 85 per cent capacity, with plans to expand to 700,000 barrels per day before the end of the year. (Channels TV)