The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has expressed concern over the newly signed refinery agreement between the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and Chinese firms, calling for greater transparency, accountability, and clarity on the project’s implementation framework.

NECA Director-General, Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, made the position known in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja in reaction to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed on May 4 for refinery rehabilitation and expansion projects.

The statement, titled “Enough of MoU Governance and Failed Revamps on Port Harcourt and Other Refineries,” questioned the rationale behind embarking on another refinery rehabilitation initiative without resolving concerns surrounding previous failed turnaround maintenance exercises.

Oyerinde noted that Nigeria could not afford another unsuccessful refinery revamp after reportedly spending about $25 billion on rehabilitation projects over the years with little measurable improvement in refining output.

“It will be unpatriotic to endorse another opaque refinery deal while questions surrounding past spending and failed rehabilitation projects remain unresolved,” he stated.

According to him, repeated rehabilitation efforts at the Port Harcourt refinery have failed to deliver sustainable refining capacity despite huge public investments, adding that Nigerians deserve detailed explanations regarding previous expenditures, audit reports, and safeguards against future delays and cost overruns.

The NECA boss urged NNPCL to publicly disclose details of the proposed technical partnerships, local content arrangements, technology transfer plans, and the business model guiding the latest agreement.

He stressed that businesses across Nigeria had continued to suffer from decades of energy insecurity, rising production costs, fuel import dependence, and job losses linked to dysfunctional local refineries.

Oyerinde also reiterated NECA’s long-standing call for the privatisation or concession of the nation’s refineries, insisting that governance reforms and commercial viability must take precedence over repeated rehabilitation cycles.

He maintained that the association would only support refinery revitalisation initiatives anchored on transparency, accountability, and sustainable operational models capable of restoring public confidence in Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector.