Public affairs analyst and former president of the Nigeria Union of Journalists and the African Union of Journalists, Lanre Ogundipe, has said the recent clarification by NNPC Limited over its refinery arrangement with Chinese firms highlights the deep trust deficit surrounding Nigeria’s refinery sector.
In a statement issued on Monday in Abuja, Ogundipe said although NNPC’s clarification that the arrangement with the Chinese companies was merely a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding for a Technical Equity Partnership was “important and welcome,” Nigerians remained concerned about the transparency and credibility of refinery reforms.
According to him, the country’s refinery crisis goes beyond the language used to describe agreements, stressing that citizens are more troubled by the long history of failed rehabilitation projects, repeated turnaround maintenance exercises, and massive public spending without sustainable refining output.
“The deeper issue is institutional credibility, transparency, and the painful history of repeated refinery interventions that consumed enormous public resources with limited sustainable outcomes,” he said.
Ogundipe noted that public skepticism toward refinery reforms did not emerge without reason, recalling years of recommissioning ceremonies, optimistic projections, and subsequent clarifications that failed to deliver commercially viable refinery operations.
He argued that the speed with which NNPC clarified that the China arrangement was not another rehabilitation contract reflected the level of distrust currently confronting the organisation.
The analyst, however, acknowledged that the proposed Technical Equity Partnership model could prove more sustainable if properly implemented, particularly if it involves technical operators and investors with long-term commercial responsibility.
He said Nigerians were justified in demanding answers regarding what distinguishes the latest arrangement from previous refinery interventions, the financial implications for the country, operational benchmarks for success, and safeguards against another cycle of wasteful expenditure.
“These questions are not expressions of hostility. They are expressions of institutional memory,” he stated.
Ogundipe further argued that Nigeria’s refinery crisis has never been purely technical but is largely rooted in governance failures, accountability concerns, and weak operational discipline.
According to him, the emergence of large-scale domestic refining capacity in recent years has shifted national conversations from whether refining can work in Nigeria to issues of governance quality, commercial sustainability, and institutional trust.
He added that future refinery arrangements would now be judged by measurable operational performance rather than announcements or memoranda.
“The burden of proof therefore rests squarely on NNPC. Institutional credibility will not be restored through clarification alone. It will be restored when performance consistently becomes stronger than explanations,” he added.
