Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has disclosed that his administration’s proposal to partner with Shell Plc for the management of Nigeria’s refineries was turned down due to rampant corruption and poor management.
In an interview with the Financial Times, which gained widespread attention on Saturday, Obasanjo, who served as president from 1999 to 2007, explained that Shell cited these issues as the reasons for rejecting the partnership.
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He said, “When I was President, I invited Shell, and I said, ‘look, come and take equity participation and run our refineries for us.’ They refused. They said our refineries have not been well maintained.
“We have brought amateurs rather than bringing professionals. They said there’s too much corruption with the way our refinery is run and maintained. And they didn’t want to get involved in such a mess.”
He also criticized the government’s repeated promises to repair the refineries, expressing frustration over the failure to fulfill these commitments.
He said, “How many times have they told us that? And at what price?
“Those problems, as far as the government refineries are concerned, have never gone away. They have even increased. So if you have a problem like that and that problem is not removed, then you aren’t going anywhere.”
