Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has disclosed that his administration persuaded Shell Plc to run Nigeria's refineries but the oil company rejected the offer.

Obasanjo, who was president between 1999 and 2007, disclosed this in an interview with Financial Times.

He said: "When I was president, I invited Shell and I said, look, come and take equity participation and run our refineries for us. They refused. They said our refineries have not been well maintained.

He recalled how he persuaded Shell to run the country's refineries but the International Oil Company refused, saying there was too much corruption in the sector.

"When I was President, I invited Shell and I said, look, come and take equity participation and run our refineries for us. They refused. They said our refineries have not been well maintained.

"We have brought amateurs rather than bringing professionals. They said there's too much corruption with the way our refinery is run and maintained. And they didn't want to get involved in such a mess," he stated.

Difficulty fixing refineries

On the promises that the refineries will be fixed, he asked, "How many times have they told us that? And at what price?

"Those problems, as far as the government refineries are concerned, have never gone away. They have even increased. So if you have a problem like that and that problem is not removed then you aren't going anywhere."