By Peter Omopo
President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has raised fresh concerns over sustained sabotage attempts against his $20 billion oil refinery project, accusing entrenched interests in the petroleum importation business of actively working to frustrate its success.
Speaking at an investor forum in Lagos on Friday, Dangote said the battle to fully operationalize the 650,000 barrels-per-day facility located in Lekki, Lagos, is ongoing, but vowed that he remains undeterred.
“We’re fighting, and the fight is not yet finished. But I have been fighting all my life, and I am 100 per cent sure I will win at the end of the day,” the billionaire industrialist said, according to a report by Semafor.
Dangote alleged that individuals and groups who profited from decades of subsidised fuel importation in Nigeria are funding opposition to both his refinery and the federal government’s recent fuel subsidy removal.
“These are people who have made money for a very long time and now see their dominance threatened. Naturally, they won’t support what we’re doing,” he said.
He accused international oil companies (IOCs) of deliberately sabotaging his efforts by refusing to supply the refinery with domestic crude, forcing the company to import crude oil from as far away as the United States, thereby incurring huge costs.
Vice President of Oil and Gas at Dangote Industries, Devakumar Edwin, previously alleged that the IOCs were inflating local crude prices beyond global benchmarks to cripple the refinery’s economic viability. He also faulted the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) for issuing licences that allowed the importation of substandard petroleum products.
“It appears that the objective of the IOCs is to ensure Nigeria remains dependent on crude exports and imported refined products,” Edwin said, warning that such practices enrich foreign economies at the expense of Nigeria’s development.
Dangote, who once expressed regret over embarking on the refinery project due to the strength of the opposition, said he remains resolute, describing the resistance as a temporary phase in Nigeria’s transition to self-sufficiency in fuel refining.
The refinery, which began initial operations in 2024, is expected to meet Nigeria’s entire refined fuel demand and significantly reduce the country’s dependence on imports.
