NEF chair warns against blackmailing Dangote refinery

The Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, Prof Ango Abdullahi, has issued a stern warning against efforts to frustrate and undermine the Dangote refinery, stating that such actions would be detrimental to the country.

The former vice chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, expressed his concerns in a statement released in Abuja on Saturday.

These concerns arise amid the Federal Government’s intervention in the ongoing conflict between the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority and the management of the Dangote refinery.

Recently, media reports have highlighted the difficulties faced by the refinery, one of Africa’s largest oil plants, in securing local crude oil.

Prof Abdullahi expressed worry that for 30 years, vested interests controlling the NNPC cartel have ensured that the nation’s four refineries remained non-operational and unable to meet domestic petroleum needs. Instead of appreciating Aliko Dangote’s efforts to reduce Nigeria’s dependency on imported refined petroleum products, some groups are intent on hindering the refinery’s operations.

He emphasised that Nigeria is globally ridiculed as the only member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) without refining capacity, relying heavily on imported oil and derivatives.

The statement reads, “The Northern Elders Forum is watching with sustained interest the unfolding drama being orchestrated by some powerful vested interests to frustrate the good example set by the nation’s leading investor and foremost African entrepreneur, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, who has defied all formidable odds to build a privately-owned ultramodern petroleum refinery in Nigeria.

“This remarkable business feat, which ordinarily should instantly earn him national encomiums and accolades, has paradoxically ignited the malicious fury of enemies of our dear country, who are strategically located in the oil and gas sector of the economy.

“They have been wreaking havoc over the years through many subterfuges, resulting in the crippling of our nation’s refining capacity and the ruthless imposition of a ruinous regime of massive refined oil and other sundry products importation to the detriment of our national growth.

“In this wise, the lamentable and highly troubling commentary against the Dangote refinery that came out from the NNPCL and its other sister regulatory bodies smacks of a glaring attempt to de-market this epochal national achievement and premeditatedly derail the economy from the path of healthy growth and stability.”