Africa’s richest man and President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has declared that the struggle to secure the future of his $20 billion refinery is far from over, as powerful interests benefiting from Nigeria’s decades-long dependence on fuel imports continue to resist the operation of his 650,000 barrels-per-day Lekki-based facility.
Speaking at an investor forum in Lagos recently, as reported by Semafor, Dangote alleged that entrenched oil importers, long enriched by government-subsidised petroleum import schemes, are actively sabotaging the Dangote Refinery’s success in order to maintain their dominance in the downstream sector.
“We’re fighting, and the fight is not yet finished,” Dangote stated. “But I have been fighting all my life, and I am ready and 100 per cent sure I will win at the end of the day.”
Dangote accused these groups of backing resistance to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s removal of petrol subsidies and mounting opposition to the refinery’s operations.
He suggested that their motives are rooted in the disruption of a corrupt system that has made them billions over the years.
“In a system where, for 35 years, people are used to counting good money, and all of a sudden, they see that the days of counting that money have come to an end, you don’t expect them to pray for you. Of course, you expect them to fight back,” he said. “But the truth is that the country, the sub-region, and sub-Saharan Africa need this refinery.”
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Dangote previously revealed that former Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih once advised him against building a refinery, but he declined to follow the counsel. Now, he says, the project has become the target of domestic and international interests that want it to fail.
The Vice President of Oil and Gas at Dangote Industries Limited, Devakumar Edwin, added fuel to the allegations, accusing International Oil Companies (IOCs) in Nigeria of deliberately frustrating the refinery by inflating crude oil prices beyond market rates—effectively forcing the Dangote facility to import crude from as far away as the United States at a higher cost.
“It appears that the objective of the IOCs is to ensure that Nigeria remains a country that exports crude oil and imports refined petroleum products,” Edwin said. “They are keen on exporting the raw materials, creating jobs and GDP growth for their home countries, and dumping expensive refined products into Nigeria—keeping us dependent.”
Despite these challenges, the Dangote refinery began production of petrol in September and has been instrumental in lowering pump prices.
Through the naira-for-crude agreement authorized by President Tinubu, the refinery was able to purchase local crude in local currency, helping crash the retail price of petrol from over N1,100 to about N860 per litre.
While Nigerians welcomed the price cuts, fuel importers and independent retailers cried foul, saying they were forced to sell at a loss as customers shifted their preference to the cheaper Dangote products. Some marketers claim they can no longer compete due to their higher landing costs for imported fuel.