Former president Obasajo exposes mafias attempting to obstruct the $20 billion refinery

• Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president, stated that the Dangote will encounter difficulties with his refinery
• He stated that the Dangote refinery should serve as an inspiration to both Nigerians and non-Nigerians
• He described how, during his presidency, the international oil company turned down his offer to take over the nation's refineries

Legit.ng journalist Zainab Iwayemi has over 3-year-experience covering the Economy, Technology, and Capital Market.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has declared that the Dangote Petroleum Refinery will face challenges from those profiting from the petroleum import industry.

According to former president Obasanjo, some mafias were trying to block the $20 billion refinery. Photo Credit: FG, Dangote Group
Source: UGC

Obasanjo made this statement in response to claims made by Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the president of the Dangote Group, s

This came amid report that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, the multibillion-dollar refinery and other domestic refineries had not yet started buying crude oil in naira.

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People frustrating Dangote

The former president in a Punch report said that the Dangote refinery should inspire both Nigerians and non-Nigerians in an interview with Financial Times.

Obasanjo stated,

“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.”

Speaking further, Obasanjo revealed that Nigeria is making mistake by disregarding gas and agriculture and placing all of its eggs in what he called one basket of oil.

“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.

IOC's reject offer to run refinery

He explained how the International Oil Company rejected his offer to take over the country's refineries after he convinced them that there was too much corruption in the industry.

“When I was President, I invited Shell and I said, look, come and take equity participation and run our refineries for us. They refused. They said our refineries have not been well maintained.“We have brought amateurs rather than bringing professionals. They said there’s too much corruption with the way our refinery is run and maintained. And they didn’t want to get involved in such a mess,” he explained.

Why Dangote cannot crash fuel price

Legit.ng reported that an expert in the oil and gas industry have asked the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority to resist pressure, arguing that the country was not ready to stop importing refined petroleum products.

This came after the NMDPRA Chief Executive, Farouk Ahmed, made accusations that the Dangote refinery wanted him to stop granting licenses for petrol imports, which prompted the experts to make this statement.

According to Ahmed, he turned down the request to prevent monopolies and guarantee national energy security.

Source: Legit.ng