Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has expressed concerns that those currently profiting from Nigeria’s profitable fuel importation sector may seek to undermine the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
This statement follows allegations by Alhaji Aliko Dangote, President of the Dangote Group, who has accused certain ‘mafias’ of attempting to sabotage his $20 billion refinery project.
The refinery has not started buying crude oil in naira yet, even though President Bola Tinubu has instructed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) to do so.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Obasanjo suggested that if the refinery succeeds, it could boost investment from both Nigerians and foreigners.
He said, “Aliko’s investment in a refinery, if it goes well, should encourage both Nigerians and non-Nigerians to invest in Nigeria.
“If those who are selling or supplying refined products for Nigeria feel that they will lose the lucrative opportunity, they will also make every effort to get him frustrated.”
Officials of the Dangote Group recently cried out that international oil companies are hampering the refinery by either refusing to sell crude or charging up to $4 above the standard price.
They also accused the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority of intentionally issuing licenses to individuals for importing contaminated fuel.
The regulator denied this, saying Dangote diesel was inferior when compared to imported ones.
The NMDPRA Chief Executive, Farouk Ahmed, also stated that the country would not stop fuel importation to avoid a monopoly by the Dangote Group.
Obasanjo further remarked that Nigeria made a critical error by focusing solely on oil, neglecting opportunities in gas and agriculture.
“I believe we made a very, very deadly mistake. We put all our eggs in one basket of oil. We even ignored gas. We were flaring gas, which is a very important commodity
“We ignored agriculture, which should have been the centrepiece of our economic development,” Obasanjo stated.
He recalled attempting to persuade Shell to operate Nigeria’s refineries, but the company refused, citing excessive corruption in the sector.
“When I was president, I invited shell to come and take equity and run our refineries for us. They refused and said our refineries were not well maintained. We brought amateurs instead of professionals. Then there was too much corruption with the way our refineries were maintained. They didn’t want to get involved in such a mess,’ he said.
He criticised the government’s approach to revitalizing the refineries.
“How many times have they told us that the refineries would be fixed, and at what price? Those problems as far as the government refineries are concerned have never gone. They have even increased. And if you have such problems, and the problems have not been removed, then, it means we are not going anywhere.”
The former president also criticized President Bola Tinubu’s approach to removing fuel subsidies, arguing that the administration should have first considered the potential hardships and ways to alleviate them.
“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done. Not just wake up one morning and say you removed the subsidy. Because of inflation, the subsidy that we have removed is not gone. It has come back,” Obasanjo stressed.
