We can’t sabotage Dangote refinery after investing billions in it, NNPCL says

ActionAid tells FG to prioritise rehabilitation of refineries 

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited has reiterated that it is not involved in any sabotage of the Dangote Refinery, highlighting its substantial investment of billions of naira in the plant.

In an interview on the Bereke Family Radio Programme, which was published on YouTube yesterday, Olufemi Soneye, the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of NNPCL, stated that the oil company had invested billions of naira in the refinery.

He emphasised that it would be counterproductive for NNPCL to undermine the plant, as doing so would be against its own interests. He also confirmed that NNPCL holds a 7.2 per cent stake in the refinery, emphasising that this investment reflects the national oil company’s strong belief in the success of the 650,000-barrel-per-day petrochemical plant.

“We want all Nigerians to know that NNPC limited doesn’t have any issue at all with Dangote Refinery. We are part of the owners of Dangote refinery and we will not want it to collapse. We put billions of naira into Dangote refinery. So, why would we want to sabotage such a company?

“Now, on the issue Mr Farouq raised, he doesn’t work for NNPC. Mr. Farouq Ahmed is the head of Nigeria’s mainstream and downstream petroleum regulatory authorities. They have power over all the refineries. Anything that has to with distribution of petrol, they are in charge. In fact, they are superior to us in that area. We don’t have anything to do with them,” Soneye said.

In addition, Soneye explained the reason behind NNPC’s decision to reduce its stake in Dangote refinery to 7.2 per cent. He said NNPC chose rather to reallocate its investment into Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) projects across the country.

He mentioned that NNPC realised that CNG is very affordable as a better energy alternative for Nigerians. According to him, an average Nigerian can fill up his car with N10,000 with CNG, creating a huge investment opportunity in the energy space.

“That’s why you see that NNPC is building different CNG stations across everywhere.”

Meanwhile, the General Assembly of ActionAid Nigeria has called on the Federal Government to prioritise rehabilitation of refineries as well reinstate subsidies on fuel to ease economic burdens on Nigerians. They called on the federal and state governments to urgently implement targeted social safety programmes and subsidies to protect the most vulnerable populations, as well as provide low income households with small businesses grants and low-interest loans for the SME to enable their expansion and survival.

The demand was contained in the text of a Press Conference addressed by the ActionAid Nigeria General Assembly, after its 16th Annual General Meeting to review the State of the Nation at the weekend in Abuja.

The Assembly lamented that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s adminstration has been impaired by several economic and monetary policies, which have negatively impacted the economy, inflation, food and transportation costs, although there was a slight increase in the country’s GDP to 2.74 per cent (according to NBS, 2024), saying most of the policies introduced by the administration have not helped the informal sector where millions of poor Nigerians operate.