Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has said he is ready to give up ownership of his multibillion-dollar oil refinery to the state-owned energy company Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL).
Dangote said this as a new dispute with one of the key equity partners in the plant heats up in the latest phase of a bitter row with regulatory authorities in Nigeria.
The 650,000 barrel-per-day refinery, which began operation in 2023 after a decade of prolonged construction, cost $19 billion, which is more than double the initial estimate.
Nigeria’s online news medium, PREMIUM TIMES, in an exclusive report, quoted Dangote as saying that the NNPCL should buy him out and run the refinery the best way they can.
“They have labelled me a monopolist. That’s an incorrect and unfair allegation, but it’s OK. If they buy me out, at least, their so-called monopolist would be out of the way,” Mr Dangote said in the PREMIUM TIMES report on Sunday.
“We have been facing fuel crisis since the 70s. This refinery can help in resolving the problem but it does appear some people are uncomfortable that I am in the picture. So I am ready to let go, let the NNPC buy me out, run the refinery.
“As you probably know, I am 67 years old, in less than three years, I will be 70. I need very little to live the rest of my life. I can’t take the refinery or any other property or asset to my grave. Everything I do is in the interest of my country.
“This refinery can help in resolving the problem but it does appear some people are uncomfortable that I am in the picture. So I am ready to let go, let the NNPC buy me out, run the refinery. At least the country will have high-quality products and create jobs,” he added.
Dangote said the obstacles his refinery is facing seem to have vindicated friends and associates who advised him to tread with caution as he pumped billions of dollars into the Nigerian economy.
“Four years ago, one of my very wealthy friends began to invest his money abroad. I disagreed with him and urged him to rethink his action in the interest of his country. He blamed his action on policy inconsistencies and shenanigans of interest groups. That friend has been taunting me in the past few days, saying he warned me and that he has been proven right,” he reportedly said
He denied claims during a tour of both the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and the Dangote Fertiliser Limited complex by members of the House of Representatives, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas and other members.
In a statement the company said the representatives observed the testing of Automotive Gas Oil (diesel) from two petrol stations alongside Dangote Petroleum Refinery, and praised the company for its significant investments and contributions to Nigeria’s development.
“The Chairman of the House Committee on Downstream, Ikenga Ugochinyere, and Chairman of the House Committee on Midstream, Okojie Odianosen, oversaw the collection of samples from the Mild Hydrocracking (MHC) unit of Dangote refinery for testing of all the samples,” the statement said.
