Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has revealed that powerful fuel importers fought hard to frustrate the elishment of the Dangote Refinery, describing them as a “mafia” determined to protect the long standing fuel import business in Nigeria.
Dangote, who is the President of the Dangote Group, said the 20 billion dollar refinery project faced numerous obstacles from influential interests that feared the refinery would disrupt the massive importation of refined petroleum products into Nigeria despite the country being one of Africa’s largest crude oil producers.
Speaking during an interview with Nicolai Tangen, the Chief Executive Officer of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, Dangote explained that his motivation for building the refinery was to end decades of fuel scarcity and long queues at filling stations across Nigeria.
According to him, Nigerians had endured fuel shortages for more than 50 years, with citizens often spending hours and sometimes days trying to purchase petrol. He noted that government owned refineries had failed to function efficiently, forcing the country to rely heavily on imported refined products.
Dangote disclosed that the refinery project, which started in 2013, experienced delays partly caused by entrenched interests in the oil sector. He said land acquisition alone delayed the project for five years while additional challenges included constructing a private port, roads, water infrastructure, and facilities capable of handling extremely heavy equipment.
The billionaire businessman also revealed that the refinery project employed about 67,000 workers at different stages of construction. Despite economic difficulties, including the sharp depreciation of the naira from 156 naira to nearly 1,900 naira per dollar during the project period, he said his team remained focused on completing the refinery.
Dangote acknowledged support from several financial institutions including the African Export Import Bank, Zenith Bank, Access Bank, United Bank for Africa, and Standard Chartered
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