It's time to restart the sale of the Amukpe-Escravos Pipeline

Professor Okey Ikechukwu, Executive Director of the Development Specs Academy, has called for the suspension and termination of the Amukpe-Escravos pipeline sale process, citing the need to start over and avoid gifting away a vital national asset at a knockdown price.

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This warning comes as the country grapples with the implications of proceeding with the current terms, which could lead to significant damage to governance and public trust.

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The issue has become a test of Nigeria's ability to treat strategic assets with the seriousness they deserve, rather than reverting to old habits of convenience.

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A transaction that was formally terminated in October 2024 has shown remarkable powers of resurrection, despite being terminated due to missed payments, breached conditions, and attempts to shift major risks.

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The original price tag of $243 million has been superseded by independent valuations conducted in 2025, which place the 40 percent stake between $544 million and $641 million, a difference of nearly $300 million.

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The pipeline itself is a performing, revenue-positive asset, with a capacity of 160,000 barrels per day and uptime consistently above 95 percent, making it one of the more reliable evacuation routes in the Niger Delta.

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Financed by Nigerian banks and Afreximbank, the pipeline continues to generate revenue, day after day, barrel after barrel, making the idea of selling it at yesterday's price a case of value destruction, rather than prudent divestment.

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Professor Ikechukwu's analogy that you do not revive a failed private land deal years later at the old price and expect to be celebrated for commercial brilliance has landed with surgical precision, highlighting the need for a fresh start.

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Lenders had raised legitimate concerns right from the beginning, and a proper termination should have triggered a clean, transparent restart anchored in current realities, rather than allowing fragments of the collapsed deal to linger.

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The persistence of these fragments has raised eyebrows and blood pressures, and the broader signal this sends should worry anyone who cares about the credibility of ongoing oil and gas reforms.

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The sector's attempt to project transparency, competition, and seriousness to investors is at risk of being undermined by episodes like this, which suggest that rules can become remarkably elastic when the right interests align.

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Nigerians have seen this script before, and they know it never ends in their favour, with strategic assets often being handled with less care than a private citizen would extend to his own property.

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A man selling his car checks current market value, but somehow, when the asset belongs to the nation, the standards loosen, and local and foreign investors, as well as lenders, take notice.

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Nigeria is not in desperate straits, and it does not need to offload critical infrastructure at fire-sale prices, but rather, it should prioritize a proper and transparent process, with clear rules and proper stakeholder alignment.

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The responsible path is clear and urgent, requiring the conclusive closure of every remnant of the previous compromised process, and the commissioning of a fresh, independent valuation that reflects today's operational strength and market conditions.

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A new, transparent, and competitive process should be instituted, with clear rules and proper stakeholder alignment, allowing the best bid to win, and placing national interest and long-term value preservation above administrative convenience.

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Anything less would confirm a damaging suspicion that due process in Nigeria is a flexible concept, rigid for the weak and accommodating for the well-connected, a suspicion that has cost the country dearly in the past.

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Professor Okey Ikechukwu has sounded the necessary alarm, and the authorities would do well to heed it, as the issue is no longer just about one pipeline, but about the credibility of the phrases "due process," "national interest," and "value for money" in the management of strategic assets.

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Failed processes should not enjoy endless resurrections, especially not at the expense of the nation, and it is time to reset the Amukpe-Escravos Pipeline sale process, with no more second chances, and a commitment to transparency and accountability.