Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
Founder of the Silverbird Group and former Bayelsa East Senator, Ben Murray-Bruce, has issued a blunt and urgent challenge to President Bola Tinubu, declaring that Nigeria can no longer afford excuses over the prolonged failure of its state-owned refineries and demanding that the rehabilitation and commercially viable operation of the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries be made a "national obsession". In an open letter posted on his X handle on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, Murray-Bruce said Nigerians have heard enough explanations about turnaround maintenance, contractors, technical reviews, committees, timelines and billions spent, and that they now want to see refined petroleum products coming out of the facilities.
Murray-Bruce's intervention came just days after President Tinubu, on August 13, 2026, assured the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers that the refineries would "come back to work" and that his administration was building a "very firm reset and structural reworking of the economy". But the former lawmaker, who represented Bayelsa East in the Senate from 2015 to 2019, made it clear that promises alone would no longer suffice. "Mr President, make the rehabilitation and commercially viable operation of the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries a national obsession," he wrote. "And please, no more excuses. Nigerians have heard enough explanations about turnaround maintenance, contractors, technical reviews, committees, timelines and billions spent. We want products coming out of those refineries".
Murray-Bruce drew a sharp contrast between the government's chronic failure and the success of the privately-owned Dangote Refinery, which he said has shown what is possible on Nigerian soil. "Dangote has shown what is possible on Nigerian soil. Its refinery was designed for 650,000 barrels per day and has reportedly demonstrated even higher throughput during performance testing," he said. "So let us establish an audacious benchmark. Mr President, let the three government-owned refining complexes target, at minimum, the equivalent of 50% of Dangote's nameplate refining capacity—about 325,000 barrels per day of reliable, commercially viable throughput. Then push beyond it".
The former senator argued that Nigeria should not merely aspire to satisfy its domestic fuel demand but should aim to become a refining powerhouse for Africa and a major exporter of refined petroleum products. He also linked the refinery challenge to the broader goal of increasing crude oil production, urging Tinubu to find a "mad man" who would deliver on the administration's stated ambition of taking Nigeria towards 4 million barrels of oil per day by 2030. "Find somebody who considers 1.5 million barrels unacceptable when the national ambition is 4 million," he said. "Find somebody who will fight oil theft, confront bureaucratic paralysis, reduce production costs, unlock dormant assets, accelerate approvals, attract billions of dollars of investment and sit on the neck of every agency standing between Nigeria and increased production".
Murray-Bruce's call for "mad men" was not a random flourish. He explicitly cited Central Bank Governor Olayemi Cardoso and National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu as examples of officials who, in his view, have demonstrated the kind of determination and willingness to confront entrenched interests that Nigeria needs. But he warned that two such officials were not enough for a country of more than 200 million people. "I don't want another committee chairman. I want a mad man. I don't want somebody who will spend four years explaining why something cannot be done. I want somebody crazy enough to do it," he declared. "We have had enough clowns".
The former lawmaker also urged the government to be open to different ownership and management models if they would make the refineries commercially viable. "If government cannot operate them efficiently, find the structure that can. Bring in world-class technical partners. Introduce private capital where necessary. Restructure them. Concession them if that produces the best outcome," he said. "But whatever model is chosen, the objective must be brutally simple: MAKE THE REFINERIES WORK".
Murray-Bruce stressed that his letter was not an act of opposition but of support. "I write this as a supporter of your administration and as a Nigerian who wants you to succeed. But support must never become sycophancy. Sometimes, the greatest service a supporter can render is to tell the President what others around him may be too comfortable—or too frightened—to say," he said.
The call comes at a time when Nigeria's state-owned refineries have become a symbol of decades of policy failure and fiscal waste. Despite billions of naira spent on repeated rehabilitation contracts, the facilities have consistently failed to operate at meaningful capacity, leaving Africa's largest economy dependent on imported refined petroleum products even as it exports crude oil. The Dangote Refinery, which began operations in recent years, has demonstrated that large-scale refining is possible in Nigeria, but its success has only sharpened the contrast with the government's own facilities.
President Tinubu has not yet responded directly to Murray-Bruce's letter, but his administration has signalled a willingness to pursue reforms in the petroleum sector. Whether that willingness will translate into the kind of "mad" determination Murray-Bruce has called for remains to be seen. But the former senator has made his position unmistakably clear: the era of excuses is over, and the time for results is now. "Four million barrels per day. Working refineries. A Nigeria that refines its own crude and exports petroleum products to the world. No excuses. No clowns. No passengers. Only results," he declared.
📩 Stone Reporters News | 🌍 stonereportersnews.com
✉️ info@stonereportersnews.com | 📘 Facebook: Stone Reporters News | 🐦 X (Twitter): @StoneReportNew | 📸 Instagram: @stonereportersnews
Add comment
Comments