Business magnate and Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has questioned the repeated efforts to revive the moribund refineries, describing the projects as wasteful and unsustainable.
Speaking while hosting members of the Global CEO Africa from the Lagos Business School, after a tour of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lekki on Thursday, Dangote recounted how his company had once acquired the government-owned refineries in January 2007, only to return them months later due to a shift in political leadership and misplaced optimism on the part of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
“The refineries that we bought before, which were owned by Nigeria, were doing about 22 per cent of PMS. We bought the refineries in January 2007. Then we had to return them to the government because there was a change of government.” Dangote said.
He explained that the then Managing Director of NNPC had convinced the administration of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua that the refineries could be repaired and made operational.
“They said they just gave them to us as a parting gift or so. And as of today, they have spent about $18 billion on those refineries, and they are still not working. And I don’t think, and I doubt very much if they will work.” he added.
Dangote drew a sharp analogy to emphasise the futility of ongoing turnaround maintenance projects on the ageing facilities.
“It’s like you trying to modernise a car that was built 40 years ago, when technology and everything have changed. Even if you change the engine, the body will not be able to take the shock of that new technology engine,” he remarked.
Nigeria, despite being Africa’s largest oil producer, continues to import the bulk of its refined petroleum products, a reality exacerbated by the persistent failure of its state-owned refineries. Billions of dollars have been invested in these facilities over the past two decades, with little to show for it.
Dangote’s comments come as his own privately-owned Dangote Refinery — the largest in Africa — begins phased operations, with hopes of stabilising Nigeria’s domestic fuel supply and reducing import dependency.
