Aliko Dangote has revealed how powerful interests benefiting from Nigeria’s fuel importation and subsidy regime allegedly tried to frustrate the construction of his $20 billion refinery project.
Speaking during an interview with Nicolai Tangen, Dangote described the resistance as coming from an entrenched “mafia” within the oil business determined to protect a highly profitable subsidy system.
According to him, traders, shippers, and other beneficiaries of Nigeria’s long-running petrol subsidy arrangement saw the refinery as a direct threat to billions of naira in profits.
“All this would have been blocked by what you call the mafia in oil business to make sure that we don’t come and address these issues,” he said.
Dangote said efforts to secure land for the refinery faced prolonged delays due to opposition from vested interests.
“But we were not deterred at all. We were actually focused. We knew what we were doing,” he added.
He explained that obtaining land for the project took five years, with one proposed site delayed for three and a half years and another for one and a half years.
Dangote argued that for decades, Nigeria spent enormous sums importing refined petroleum products despite being one of Africa’s largest crude oil producers.
According to him, the system primarily benefited a small group of powerful operators.
“The people who were actually benefiting because Nigeria was giving almost about $10 billion every year as subsidy… there are shippers who are making tonnes of money, there are traders who are making tonnes of money,” he said.
He added that some local players also profited heavily from product allocation arrangements under the subsidy regime.
“So these are the people that are not agreeing for us to settle down because they believe that no, we are coming here to displace them. Of course, that’s what we have done now,” he said.
Dangote said the refinery project required the development of extensive supporting infrastructure, including a new port, roads, and water systems.
According to him, the project employed about 67,000 workers during construction.
He acknowledged that the refinery became far larger and more challenging than initially expected but said abandoning it was never considered.
“When you get to the middle of the ocean, you realise that the tide was bad. When you go forward, it’s bad. When you go backwards, it’s bad. So you have to work forward,” he said.
Dangote stated that the refinery has already altered Nigeria’s petroleum market structure and weakened the influence of import-dependent operators.
He disclosed that the plant currently sources more than half of its crude oil from Nigeria, while also importing crude from Angola, Libya, and the United States.
“We source about 56 per cent from Nigeria and some from Angola. We buy quite a bit from Angola, we buy from Libya, and we buy from the US. At one point, we were doing about seven to eight cargoes of WTI from the US. But we’re getting more of Nigeria’s crude now,” he said.
Dangote added that the refinery currently purchases 21 cargoes of crude oil monthly in Nigeria.
“That’s how big we are,” he said.
He further revealed plans to significantly expand the refinery’s capacity.
“You know, in the next 30 months, we will be at 1.4 million barrels per day, which is huge,” he noted.