Nigeria, July 15 -- Recent conversations triggered by the Bayo Ojulari-led management of the NNPCL on the potential privatisation of Nigeria's three state-owned refineries are not only welcome; they are long overdue. These refineries, while incorporated as standalone business entities under the ownership of the Nigerian State, have in reality become hollow shells: technically insolvent, chronically non-operational, and structurally unsalvageable.

Years of corrosion, erosion, and general environmental wear have undermined the process integrities of the refineries. Beyond physical decay, the refineries were never viable as going concerns. They lacked financial independence, and operated without proper profit and loss accountability or mean...