Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has delivered a blunt verdict on Nigeria’s state-owned refineries — they may never function again, despite the federal government pumping over $18 billion into their rehabilitation.
Speaking during a visit by members of the Global CEO Africa group to his massive 650,000 barrels-per-day Dangote Refinery, the industrialist opened up on what many Nigerians have suspected for years: that the refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna might never come back to life.
“Those refineries? I doubt very much if they will ever work,” Dangote said matter-of-factly.
This isn’t just idle talk. Dangote was once part of a consortium that bought the refineries in 2007 under President Obasanjo’s administration. But after a change in government, under President Umar Musa Yar’Adua, the deal was reversed and the assets returned to the NNPC.
Back then, the refineries were producing at least 22% of Nigeria’s petrol needs. Today, they’re rusting, despite several “rehabilitation” projects and countless billions of dollars thrown at them.
“You can’t modernize a 40-year-old car by just changing the engine,” Dangote explained. “The technology and structure are outdated. It simply doesn’t work that way.”
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had also echoed this sentiment, revealing that Dangote and other investors paid $750 million for the refineries, only to be forced to return them. According to Obasanjo, NNPC blocked the deal out of fear of losing control, even though it had no real capacity to run the plants.
“I told Yar’Adua at the time: these refineries won’t work. And now, after all these years, no result. They’ve spent more than $2 billion in recent times, and we’re still importing fuel,” Obasanjo recalled.
He didn’t mince words either. “Corruption killed the refineries,” he said. “And those responsible must be held accountable.”
So here we are: $18 billion gone, no functioning refineries, and the same government now relying on Dangote — the man they once rejected — to deliver what they couldn’t.
With the Dangote Refinery nearing full-scale operations, many Nigerians are pinning their hopes on it to end the country’s fuel import nightmare, ease the pressure on the naira, and restore some faith in homegrown solutions.
