Chuks Okocha in Abuja
Former Vice President of Nigeria and Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has told President Bola Tinubu to stop hiding behind the failures of his predecessors and account for the enormous resources committed to Nigeria’s refineries under his own watch.
Atiku said it was an extraordinary act of political escapism for Tinubu to now speak about inherited refinery liabilities when his own administration financed the facilities, celebrated their supposed rehabilitation and presented their return to operation as evidence of the success of his Renewed Hope Agenda.
In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said the numbers tell a story that propaganda cannot erase.
“NNPC’s financial records show that the combined obligations of the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries to the national oil company rose from approximately N4.52 trillion at the end of 2023 to N8.67 trillion at the end of 2024 — an increase of about 4.15 trillion in a single year under President Tinubu.
“President Tinubu cannot have it both ways. When the cameras were rolling in November 2024, his government told Nigerians that the Port Harcourt refinery was back. NNPC announced that it was operating at 70 per cent capacity and expressly presented it as an achievement under President Tinubu’s leadership.
“Now that the celebration has turned into embarrassment, the same administration wants Nigerians to believe that the refineries are merely liabilities inherited from previous governments. Mr President, you claimed the refinery when you thought it was working. You cannot disown it now that the smoke has cleared,” Atiku stated.
Atiku said the indictment has become even more devastating because Tinubu’s own NNPC leadership has subsequently admitted that the refineries were operating at a “monumental loss” and that the country was effectively wasting money.
“So Nigerians deserve answers. If the combined obligations of these refineries jumped by more than N4 trillion in 2024 alone, what exactly did Nigerians receive in return? Where did the money go? Where are the products? Where are the savings Nigerians were promised? And where is the refinery your government celebrated before television cameras?
“You cannot spend three years claiming credit for everything that appears to work and blaming your predecessors for everything that fails. Leadership does not work that way.
“President Tinubu repeatedly complains about the assets and liabilities he inherited. But after more than three years in office, Nigerians are entitled to examine the liability his own administration has become. The real liability today is a government that consumes trillions without delivering results; a government that celebrates projects before they work and searches for predecessors to blame when they collapse,” he stated.
Atiku said the refinery fiasco was particularly painful because Nigerians continue to pay painfully high prices for petrol while enormous public resources have been tied up in facilities that have failed to deliver sustainable refining capacity.
“Think about what N4 trillion could do for Nigeria. Think about the universities struggling with overcrowded lecture halls, hospitals without modern equipment, roads that have become death traps and communities without electricity or potable water.
“Yet trillions accumulate around refineries that the government itself now effectively acknowledges have been haemorrhaging public resources. This is not merely incompetence. It is an unforgivable failure of stewardship,” he added.
Atiku added that the contradiction between the government’s triumphant refinery announcements in 2024 and its subsequent admissions provides a fitting metaphor for Tinubu’s presidency.
“President Tinubu’s scorecard after more than three years is increasingly a story of fire and smoke — enormous expenditure, extravagant announcements and very little Nigerians can hold in their hands. Nigeria cannot afford another four years of paying for failure.
“Mr President, stop blaming your predecessors. After more than three years, you are no longer merely managing inherited liabilities. You are creating your own — and increasingly, your government itself has become the biggest liability Nigerians are being forced to carry,” the former vice president pointed out.