August 06, (THEWILL) – Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has expressed concerns over efforts by those benefiting from fuel importation to frustrate the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
The multi-billion-dollar Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd was envisioned as Nigeria’s beacon of energy independence. However, a recent dispute between the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Authority (NMDPRA), the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and the Dangote refinery has raised concerns.
Earlier, the President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, expressed frustration over what he described as gang up to sabotage the refinery project amid the inability to secure crude from local sources. However, President Bola Tinubu has instructed the NNPC to make crude oil available for sale to Dangote Refinery in Naira.
Speaking in an interview with the Financial Times, Obasanjo, who emphasised the significance of the refinery project, said: “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 to Nigeria feel that they will lose the lucrative opportunity, they will also make every effort to get him frustrated.
“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.
“When I was president, I invited Shell to come and take equity and run our refineries for us. They refused and said our refineries were not well maintained. We brought amateurs instead of professionals. Then there was too much corruption in the way our refineries were maintained. They didn’t want to get involved in such a mess.
“How many times have they told us that the refineries would be fixed, and at what price? Those problems, as far as the government refineries are concerned, have never gone. They have even increased. And if you have such problems, and the problems have not been removed, then it means we are not going anywhere.”
The former president also criticised President Bola Tinubu’s approach to removing fuel subsidies, arguing that the administration should have first considered the potential hardships and ways to alleviate them.
“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done. Not just wake up one morning and say you removed the subsidy. Because of inflation, the subsidy that we have removed is not gone. It has come back,” he said.
