Dangote reveals fierce resistance from ‘oil mafia’ during battle to build $20bn refinery

President of the Dangote Group and Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has disclosed that powerful interests within Nigeria’s oil sector allegedly fought aggressively to stop the construction of the $20 billion Dangote Petroleum Refinery, fearing that the project would disrupt the long-standing fuel import business in the country.

Dangote said the refinery faced years of resistance from entrenched players in the petroleum industry who benefited from Nigeria’s dependence on imported refined products despite being one of Africa’s biggest crude oil producers.

According to him, the determination to end Nigeria’s embarrassing dependence on imported fuel and the endless fuel queues experienced by citizens became the driving force behind the ambitious project.

Speaking during an interview with the Chief Executive Officer of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, Nicolai Tangen, Dangote reflected on the enormous obstacles encountered from the early stages of the refinery’s development.

“We looked at oil. Africa produces oil, but many countries don’t refine it. They export crude and import refined products, which drains foreign reserves,” he said.

“In Nigeria, we had fuel queues for more than 50 years. People queued for days during Christmas just to buy petrol in an oil-producing country. Government refineries were not functioning properly, so I decided to take the bold step of building a refinery.”

Dangote revealed that the project, which officially commenced in 2013, suffered repeated delays, including prolonged land acquisition issues that lasted several years.

“We launched the project in 2013. Land acquisition alone delayed us for five years. Some of these obstacles were created by entrenched interests in the oil business – what you might call a mafia – trying to stop us from solving these problems. But we stayed focused.”

The billionaire industrialist said the refinery project became even more challenging due to Nigeria’s worsening economic conditions and the sharp depreciation of the naira during construction.

“When we started, the naira exchange rate was ₦156 to the dollar. At one point it went as high as ₦1,900, but we still continued,” he stated.

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Dangote explained that the scale of the project forced his company to build critical infrastructure independently because existing national facilities could not support the refinery’s requirements.

“We had to build our own port because no existing Nigerian port could handle the heavy equipment. Some individual pieces weighed up to 3,000 tonnes. We built roads, water infrastructure and other facilities from scratch.”

Highlighting the massive operational demands of the refinery, he added, “The refinery alone uses 440 million litres of treated water. Our water treatment section covers more than 30 hectares.”

The business mogul also described the refinery as one of the most ambitious industrial undertakings ever attempted in Africa, noting that the sheer scale of the project only became fully apparent after construction had already begun.

“About 67,000 people worked on the refinery project. That’s the size of the town where I grew up. Honestly, we were lucky we didn’t fully understand the enormity of what we were building at the beginning. If I had seen the full scale immediately, I might have chickened out.”

“It was like swimming across the ocean. Once you’re in the middle, you can’t go back, so you keep moving forward,” he added.

Dangote further acknowledged the financial institutions that supported the refinery despite the huge risks and uncertainties surrounding the project.

“We got support from African Export-Import Bank, African Finance Corporation, Zenith Bank, Access Bank, United Bank for Africa and other Nigerian banks. We also had strong support from Standard Bank and Standard Chartered. We were very lucky.”

Reflecting on the final outcome, Dangote said the refinery ultimately surpassed expectations and has positioned Nigeria and Africa for greater energy independence.

“And when we completed the refinery, the results exceeded our expectations,” he said.

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