Refineries’ll return, but must deliver profits — Tinubu

President Bola Tinubu has assured petroleum workers that Nigeria’s moribund state-owned refineries will return to operation, but stressed that their revival must be measured by profitability and productivity.

Tinubu gave the assurance on Thursday when he received the Executive President of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, Salimon Oladiti, and other union leaders at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Responding to concerns over the prolonged efforts to revive the refineries, the President said the government was undertaking structural reforms to reposition the economy and restore the facilities.

“The refineries you mentioned are going to come back to work. We’re just building a very firm reset and structural reworking of the economy,” he said.

Tinubu, however, cautioned that restarting a refinery and producing smoke would not necessarily mean the facility was functioning effectively.

“Ordinary flame and smoke of a refinery doesn’t mean it’s working, until it’s profitable and yields the value for which it is built,” he said.

The President also urged owners of vehicles and trucks converted to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to pass the benefits of lower operating costs to commuters rather than retaining the savings.

He said the government would continue to support CNG adoption but expected the resulting economic benefits to spread across the transport sector.

Tinubu linked the government’s ability to finance major infrastructure projects to the economic reforms introduced by his administration since 2023.

He cited ongoing investments in the Lagos-Ibadan, Abuja-Kaduna, Abuja-Kano and Sokoto-Badagry road corridors as evidence of the benefits of the reforms.

The President also recalled his meeting with petroleum workers at Akodo Resort in Lagos during the debate over petrol subsidy removal, saying he had remained firm that the subsidy would not be restored despite threats of industrial action.

Tinubu said he would soon publish details of how the savings from subsidy removal had been utilised.

He rejected claims that the reform had only benefited the government, arguing that regular salary payments to workers at federal, state and local government levels were among the benefits of the reforms.

The President said he had accepted responsibility for the economic situation inherited from previous administrations and was determined to fix the country’s economic challenges.

“I take responsibility for that, and I’m going to do it,” Tinubu said, urging Nigerians and organised labour to remain patient with the government.

Earlier, Oladiti raised concerns over the treatment of workers in the upstream oil and gas sector, particularly the continued use of casual workers.

He described casualisation as an unhealthy practice that had persisted despite engagements between the unions and affected companies.

Oladiti said NUPENG and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) had refrained from industrial action because of the potential impact on the economy.

He appealed to Tinubu to intervene and end the practice, saying previous engagements with some companies had failed to produce the desired result.

The NUPENG leader, however, commended Labour and Employment Minister Maigari Dingyadi for his accessibility and support to workers.

On infrastructure, Oladiti commended the administration’s road rehabilitation efforts and its plans to revive the Warri and Port Harcourt refineries through partnerships with Chinese companies.

He urged the Federal Government to extend the refinery revival programme to the Nigerian Pipelines and Storage Company depots, which he said were in a state of decay.

He suggested that the depots could be transferred to private investors under an equity arrangement to improve their management and efficiency.

Oladiti also called on Tinubu to ensure that state governors comply with the Supreme Court judgment affirming the financial autonomy of local governments.