From calling out the head of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), the country’s primary oil regulatory body, for a $5 million corruption scandal, to re-addressing the oil mafia, Dangote elaborated on some of the major obstacles impeding growth in Nigeria’s most lucrative sector.
One of the key subjects he addressed during his press conference was the difficulty he has encountered from oil marketers and regulators since the inauguration of his $20 billion oil refinery.
The Nigerian billionaire stated that relations with these elements were highly strained and expressed a desire for them to experience the same financial detriment that the refinery has endured.
What Dangote said
“For the marketers, I pray and wish they will even lose more, because I’m not printing money, I’m also losing money, they want imports to continue, I don’t think it is right… so I must have a strategy of how to survive, because $20 billion of investment is too big to fail,” he stated.
“So we are in a situation where we will continue to play cat and mouse, and at the end of the day, somebody will give up, either we give up, or they will give up,” he added.
Lingering on the subject, the Nigerian business mogul revealed that the rehabilitation of the country’s state-owned oil refineries, specifically the Port Harcourt oil refinery, was significantly hindered by numerous acts of sabotage intended to prevent the facility from becoming operational.
He noted that the former head of Nigeria’s state-owned oil and gas company, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Mele Kyari, told him all about it.
“I’m telling you he (Mele Kyari) told me that they had more than 100 sabotages at the refinery (Port Harcourt refinery).”
Such acts of sabotage, which contributed to the failure of the state-owned refineries, are also being experienced at the Dangote oil refinery, according to Dangote.
“We have a boiler, 400 tons is the largest boiler ever built in the world, it was under operation, someone went there and removed a spare part from it… ” the continent’s richest man said.
“That’s why I told you the drug mafia, they are actually smaller than the people who are in oil and gas, because most of the people who are in drugs, you know yourself, but in the oil sector they have roped so many people in,” Dangote stated.
“In this refinery, we have lost around $82 million of stolen items, and what they were actually trying to do is to make sure that we go and put a massive claim on insurance, so when we put the massive claims on insurance, our insurance premium will go up,” he continued.
“That’s why we have more security people in this refinery than actual workers.”
Finally, the Nigerian billionaire noted that running a refinery is so stressful that he would recommend it for someone he considers an enemy.
“What I was saying before, if I have a big enemy, my prayer for him is to go and build a refinery.”
