President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has expressed strong doubts about the future of Nigeria’s government-owned refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna, saying they may never operate again—despite around $18 billion already spent on reviving them
Speaking on Thursday while hosting members of the Global CEO Africa Network from Lagos Business School at his Dangote Refinery in Lekki, Lagos, the billionaire industrialist said:
“They have spent about $18 billion on those refineries, and they are still not working. I don’t think, and I doubt very much, if they will ever work.”
Dangote criticized the performance of the refineries, which are under the control of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL). Despite years of funding and repeated rehabilitation efforts, the facilities remain largely non-functional.
He recalled how the Dangote Group bought the refineries in January 2007, towards the end of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s tenure, only for the deal to be reversed after President Umar Musa Yar’Adua came into office. According to Dangote, the reversal happened after the then-managing director of the refineries reportedly advised Yar’Adua that the facilities were a “parting gift” from Obasanjo and could be repaired by the government without private involvement.
“The refineries we bought in January 2007 were returned to the government because there was a change of administration,” he said. “The MD at the time told Yar’Adua the refineries would work and that they were handed over as a parting gift.”
Dangote also compared the performance of his 650,000-barrels-per-day refinery to the state-run ones. He noted that while government-owned refineries dedicate only 22% of their output to petrol, his facility allocates over 50% to producing Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
His remarks raise further concerns about the effectiveness and transparency of Nigeria’s public investments in the oil sector, especially as the country continues to rely heavily on imported fuel despite being a major crude oil producer.
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