By Peter Omopo
President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has clarified that the resistance to the success of his $20 billion refinery is being fueled by major oil marketers and traders, not the newly constituted leadership of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
In a statement released on Tuesday, Dangote praised President Bola Tinubu for appointing a competent and technically experienced team to lead NNPCL, citing the appointments of Mr. Bayo Ojulari as Group Chief Executive Officer and Mr. Ahmadu Kida as Non-Executive Chairman.
Dangote said he recently visited the president to commend him for assembling what he described as a “formidable and professionally competent team” capable of transforming Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
“The new NNPC team reflects the President’s strategic intent to drive reform and innovation across the energy sector,” he said. “We are confident this leadership will tackle systemic challenges and align with the President’s vision of a $1 trillion economy.”
Addressing reports about the ongoing struggles to get the Dangote Refinery fully operational, Dangote emphasized that his fight has been against entrenched interests in the downstream oil sector, not the current NNPCL management.
“The leadership under Ojulari and Kida has so far been supportive and responsive to our operational needs,” he affirmed.
