On Thursday, July 10, 2025, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, President of the Dangote Group, declared that Nigeria’s state-owned refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna, despite an estimated $18 billion spent on their rehabilitation, are unlikely to ever operate effectively due to outdated technology and mismanagement. Speaking during a visit by members of the Global CEO Africa to the 650,000-barrel-per-day Dangote Petroleum Refinery, he recounted how his attempt to purchase the refineries in 2007 for $750 million was reversed by the late President Umaru Yar’adua’s administration, which believed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) could revive them. Dangote likened efforts to modernize the 40-year-old facilities to fitting a new engine into an outdated car, asserting that the refineries, which operated at just 22% capacity for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in 2007, remain non-functional. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo echoed these sentiments, noting last year and earlier in 2025 that NNPC’s inability to operate the refineries stemmed from corruption, with over $2 billion squandered since the aborted sale. Obasanjo criticized the decision to block the sale to Dangote, suggesting that those responsible should face legal consequences in a “civilized society,” and expressed confidence that Dangote’s refinery would succeed where NNPC failed.
Leave a Reply