Africa’s richest man and President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has cast serious doubt over the future viability of Nigeria’s state-owned refineries, stating bluntly that the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna facilities may never become operational again — despite consuming over $18 billion in public funds.
Dangote made the remarks on Thursday during a tour of the newly completed Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lekki, Lagos, while addressing members of the Global CEO Africa group from the Lagos Business School. His comments follow years of mounting public frustration over Nigeria’s chronic dependence on fuel imports and the perceived inefficiency of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC).
According to Dangote, successive Nigerian administrations have poured billions of dollars into the rehabilitation and maintenance of the state-owned refineries, yet they remain largely non-functional. “As of today, they have spent about $18bn on those refineries, and they are still not working. I doubt very much if they will ever work,” he said.
Dangote explained that he previously attempted to take over the refineries after purchasing them from the federal government under former President Olusegun Obasanjo in January 2007. However, the sale was reversed shortly after the administration of the late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua took over, citing concerns raised by NNPC officials that the assets were undervalued and given away as political favours.
Dangote likened the government’s turnaround maintenance strategy to trying to upgrade a decades-old car with modern technology, describing it as a futile effort. “Even if you change the engine, the body will not be able to take the shock of that new technology,” he noted.
He pointed out that the Dangote Refinery, which has a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, now allocates more than 50 percent of its output to Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) — significantly higher than the 22 percent allocation from NNPC’s refineries.
Dangote’s comments echo similar concerns raised by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who earlier criticised the persistent government funding of the refineries despite their obvious dysfunction. Obasanjo had argued that even international oil companies, including Shell, declined to manage the refineries due to their poor condition. He warned that the facilities were essentially scrap and called for their sale or repurposing.
In a damning assessment, Obasanjo alleged that corruption and institutional mismanagement within the NNPC have been responsible for the refineries’ continued failure. “In a civilised society, those responsible should be in jail,” he said.
Following the shutdown of the recently reopened Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, calls have intensified for the Federal Government to sell off the facilities. Industry experts, including members of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, argue that the refineries have become economic liabilities and a drain on national resources.
Refiners and policy analysts have suggested that the government consider selling them as scrap and redirect the proceeds into modular refinery development, which would offer quicker returns on investment and better efficiency.
Government records indicate that Nigeria has approved staggering funds for refinery rehabilitation in recent years:
$1.4 billion for Port Harcourt in 2021
$897 million for Warri
$586 million for Kaduna
An estimated N100 billion was also expended on refinery maintenance in 2021 alone, with over $396 million spent between 2013 and 2017 on Turnaround Maintenance (TAM). Despite these figures, the facilities remain inactive and unproductive.
Efforts to reach the NNPC for comments were unsuccessful. The state oil firm currently lacks a spokesperson, and official contact numbers and emails remained unreachable as of the time of this report.
As the Dangote Refinery ramps up production and expands its output across Nigeria and West Africa, many industry watchers believe that the era of relying on government-owned refineries may soon be over — unless decisive reform or privatisation efforts are undertaken swiftly.