The Rise and Fall of Nigeria's Refineries: A Chronicle of Mismanagement and Corruption at NNPC
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was established in 1977 as the state-owned oil company of Nigeria. The corporation was tasked with overseeing the exploration, production, and distribution of petroleum products in the country. As part of its mandate, the NNPC also set up three refineries in Nigeria to process crude oil into refined petroleum products for domestic consumption. The first of these refineries, the Port Harcourt Refinery, was built in 1965 and has a capacity of 60,000 barrels per day. The second refinery, the Warri Refinery, was completed in 1978 and has a capacity of 125,000 barrels per day. The third refinery, the Kaduna Refinery, was also completed in 1978 and has a capacity of 110,000 barrels per day. Initially, the refineries were successful in meeting the domestic demand for petroleum products. However, due to a combination of factors including poor maintenance, mismanagement, and corruption, the refineries soon began to deteriorate. As a resul...