Dangote Delivers Scathing Assessment: Nigerian Refineries May Never Work Again Despite $18 Billion Investment
President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has delivered a damning verdict on Nigeria’s state-owned refineries, expressing serious doubts about their viability despite over $18 billion reportedly spent by the federal government on rehabilitation efforts.
During a visit by Global CEO Africa members to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lagos, Dangote stated that the refineries located in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna may never function efficiently again due to outdated infrastructure and chronic mismanagement.
The billionaire industrialist revealed that his company had previously acquired these refineries during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration in January 2007, when they were operating at about 22 percent of Premium Motor Spirit production capacity. However, following a change in government, Dangote was forced to return the facilities.
“After the government changed, we were asked to return them,” Dangote explained. “Officials at the time persuaded the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) could manage the facilities.”
Dangote’s assessment was particularly stark regarding the futility of continued rehabilitation efforts. “Today, after spending about $18 billion on turnaround maintenance, the refineries still aren’t working. And I doubt if they ever will. Trying to modernise them is like upgrading a 40-year-old car, changing the engine doesn’t make the body compatible with modern technology.”
The Dangote Group president disclosed that the decision to construct his 650,000-barrel-per-day refinery emerged after the Yar’Adua administration declined to sell him the existing refineries. The privately owned facility is now expected to significantly reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported fuel.
Former President Obasanjo has echoed similar sentiments, lamenting the mismanagement and failed rehabilitation efforts. “I told my successor that NNPC cannot manage those refineries,” Obasanjo stated. “Some investors, including Aliko Dangote, paid $750 million to take over the refineries. But the deal was reversed by Yar’Adua. Since then, billions of dollars have been squandered, and the refineries are still not working.”
Obasanjo argued that vested interests within NNPC undermined reform efforts, driven by opportunities for corruption. “They knew they couldn’t fix it, but they wanted to continue benefiting from the rot. In any civilized country, those responsible should be in jail.”
Source: leadership.ng
