Femi Falana, SAN, Chairman of the Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), has criticized the 2007 privatisation of the Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries under former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
![](https://thenigerialawyer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/TheNigerialawyer-WhatsApp-Channel1.jpg")
Falana highlighted breaches of the Privatisation and Commercialisation Act, accusing the former administration of sidelining the then Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, who, by law, chaired the National Council on Privatisation (NCP).
According to Falana, on May 17, 2007, President Obasanjo sold a 51% stake in the Port Harcourt refinery to Bluestar Oil for $561 million. Similarly, on May 28, 2007, a 51% stake in the Kaduna Refinery was sold to Bluestar Oil for $160 million. Bluestar Oil, he noted, was a consortium comprising Dangote Oil, Zenon Oil, and Transcorp—a company in which Obasanjo allegedly held significant shares through a “blind trust.”
Falana revealed that oil sector unions, including the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), opposed the deals. They argued that the sales lacked transparency, involved conflicts of interest, and grossly undervalued the refineries. The unions further asserted that the $561 million deal for the Port Harcourt refinery was worth approximately $5 billion.
In response to the unions’ resistance, a four-day nationwide strike was declared in June 2007, crippling the economy. The strike was only called off after the Federal Government assured an investigation into the transactions.
Following the investigation, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua subsequently annulled the sales, a decision that was never legally challenged.
Falana urged NUPENG and PENGASSAN to remain vigilant and resist any attempts to privatize national assets in ways that compromise national interest. He also suggested that individuals or corporations keen on refinery ownership should establish their refineries, akin to the Dangote Group’s model.
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