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Billionaire says $18 billion sunk into state refineries wasted
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Yar’Adua’s reversal of 2007 sale blamed for failure
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Obasanjo: “NNPC corruption killed the system”
The President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has declared that Nigeria’s state-owned refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna may never function again — despite a staggering $18 billion reportedly spent on their rehabilitation over the years.
Speaking at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lagos while hosting members of Global CEO Africa, Dangote revealed that his decision to construct Africa’s largest refinery was triggered by the late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua’s refusal to privatise the moribund state facilities.
“We acquired the refineries in January 2007, but due to a change in government, we were forced to hand them back. At the time, they were producing 22% of the country’s PMS needs,” Dangote said.
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“As of today, they have spent about $18 billion on those refineries, and they are still not working. I doubt very much if they will ever work again,” he warned.
A 40-Year-Old Car Analogy
Dangote compared the refineries’ rehabilitation efforts to fitting a 40-year-old car with modern technology. “Even if you install a brand-new engine, it won’t run efficiently because the framework is obsolete,” he said.
Obasanjo Points to NNPC Corruption
Echoing Dangote’s concerns, former President Olusegun Obasanjo said entrenched corruption within the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) crippled the country’s refining capacity.
In an earlier interview, Obasanjo recalled that Dangote and other investors had paid $750 million to acquire the refineries in 2007, only for Yar’Adua’s government to revoke the sale.
“I told Yar’Adua the refineries would not work. NNPC said they could fix them, but I warned him no private investor would touch them again even as scrap,” Obasanjo said.
He accused NNPC of actively blocking private-sector involvement to protect illicit interests and insisted those responsible should face justice.
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“If anyone says the refineries are working, why is the entire country relying on Aliko Dangote’s refinery today?” Obasanjo asked.
The 650,000-barrel-per-day Dangote Refinery, which commenced operations in 2025, is already supplying petrol and diesel nationwide, a move analysts say could reshape Nigeria’s fuel supply chain and stabilise prices.
