{"id":169118,"date":"2025-07-11T11:14:36","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T10:14:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/nnpc-refineries-may-never-work-again-dangote"},"modified":"2025-07-11T12:36:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T11:36:09","slug":"nnpc-refineries-may-never-work-again-dangote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/nnpc-refineries-may-never-work-again-dangote","title":{"rendered":"NNPC refineries may never work again \u2013 Dangote"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>The President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has stated that Nigeria\u2019s state-owned refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna may never function properly again, despite the reported $18 billion spent on their rehabilitation.<\/p>\n

Speaking while hosting members of Global CEO Africa at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, Dangote revealed that his decision to construct the 650,000-barrel-per-day facility followed the late President Umar Musa Yar\u2019Adua\u2019s administration\u2019s refusal to sell the refineries to him.<\/p>\n

According to Dangote, he and other investors had acquired the refineries in January 2007 but were compelled to return them to government ownership after a change in administration. He observed that despite significant subsequent investment, the refineries have remained inoperative.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe refineries we bought before, which were owned by Nigeria, were producing about 22 per cent of PMS. We bought them in January 2007 but had to return them due to a change in government. The managing director at that time convinced Yar\u2019Adua that the refineries would work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs of today, they have spent about $18 billion on those refineries, and they are still not working. I doubt very much if they will ever work,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Dangote likened the rehabilitation efforts to attempting to upgrade a 40-year-old car with modern technology, suggesting that even a new engine would not be compatible with the outdated framework.<\/p>\n

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had earlier expressed similar misgivings. In a previous interview, he asserted that the NNPC knew it was incapable of effectively operating the refineries but actively blocked private sector involvement.<\/p>\n

Obasanjo disclosed that Dangote and other investors had paid $750 million to acquire the refineries, only for the deal to be reversed by the Yar\u2019Adua administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told Yar\u2019Adua the refineries would not work. I said, \u2018NNPC cannot do it.\u2019 He said, \u2018NNPC said they can.\u2019 I told him, \u2018When you want to sell them again, you won\u2019t find anyone willing to pay even $200 million as scrap.\u2019 And that is where we are today,\u201d Obasanjo said.<\/p>\n

He alleged that the failure to privatise the refineries was fuelled by entrenched corruption within the NNPC, and insisted that those responsible should be held accountable.<\/p>\n

Obasanjo further claimed that over $2 billion had been spent on the refineries in recent years, with no tangible results.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anyone says the refineries are working, why are they now relying on Aliko Dangote? He will make his refinery work and deliver,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. The President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has stated that Nigeria\u2019s state-owned refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna may never function properly again, despite the reported $18 billion spent on their rehabilitation. Speaking while hosting members of Global CEO Africa at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, Dangote revealed that his decision […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":169117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,15],"tags":[1233,254,434],"class_list":["post-169118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-dangote","tag-nigeria","tag-nnpc"],"yoast_head":"\nNNPC refineries may never work again \u2013 Dangote - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has stated that Nigeria\u2019s state-owned refineries in Port Harcourt, ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/nnpc-refineries-may-never-work-again-dangote\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NNPC refineries may never work again \u2013 Dangote\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has stated that Nigeria\u2019s state-owned refineries in Port Harcourt, ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/nnpc-refineries-may-never-work-again-dangote\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-11T10:14:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-11T11:36:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/07\/sm_1752221284.643498.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/nnpc-refineries-may-never-work-again-dangote#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/nnpc-refineries-may-never-work-again-dangote\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"NNPC refineries may never work again \u2013 Dangote\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-11T10:14:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-11T11:36:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/nnpc-refineries-may-never-work-again-dangote\"},\"wordCount\":420,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/nnpc-refineries-may-never-work-again-dangote#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/07\/sm_1752221284.643498.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Dangote\",\"Nigeria\",\"NNPC\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/nnpc-refineries-may-never-work-again-dangote#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/nnpc-refineries-may-never-work-again-dangote\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/nnpc-refineries-may-never-work-again-dangote\",\"name\":\"NNPC refineries may never work again \u2013 Dangote - 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