No govt incentives used in building refinery, says Dangote

President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has revealed that the Dangote Refinery was built without any incentives or support from the government.

He stressed that to achieve the vision of turning Nigeria into a vital hub for the region, investors need to be incentivized.

Dangote, who was represented by the Group’s Executive Director, Engr. Mansur Ahmed, in his keynote address at the Crude Oil Refinery-Owners Association of Nigeria (CORAN) summit on the theme: “Making Nigeria A Net Exporter of Petroleum Products” in Lagos, stressed that Nigeria and Africa can become completely self-sufficient and keep all the value on the shoulders.

“It is worth noting that the Dangote refinery already produces sufficient diesel and jet fuel to meet Nigeria’s demand. We recently started the production of PMS, and we will soon ramp up to meet Nigeria’s demand. Our refined products have been exported to many countries, including Europe, Brazil, the UK, the USA, Singapore, and South Korea, among others,” he said.

Dangote stressed that there is a need to expand crude production capacity to support demand from the new refinery capacity.

He mentioned that President Bola Tinubu is taking steps to achieve the expansion through fast-tracking the IOC and other initiatives.

“It is unfortunate that while countries like Norway are putting oil proceeds into the future through their national wealth funds, in Africa we are spending oil proceeds from the future today. We will also need to prioritise the implementation of the best process of life obligation.

“Until we recognize the huge disruption and decide to deal with it as an industry, we will continue to have difficulties. So the suggestion is that all stakeholders in the sector, down to the value chain, need to continuously consult, collaborate, and cooperate and work together to take the system, to take the industry through the transition,” he said.