Aliko Dangote, Chairman of Dangote Groups has said he is ready to sell the $20 billion Dangote Refinery to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited, saying that he has been labeled a monopolist.
The Africa’s richest man disclosed this in an interview with Premium Times on Sunday, July 21, 2024.
I am ready to let go, let the NNPC buy me out, run the refinery,” he said.
“They have labelled me a monopolist. That’s an incorrect and unfair allegation, but it’s OK. If they buy me out, at least, their so-called monopolist would be out of the way.
We have been facing fuel crisis since the 70s. This refinery can help in resolving the problem but it does appear some people are uncomfortable that I am in the picture. So I am ready to let go, let the NNPC buy me out, run the refinery.
“As you probably know, I am 67 years old, in less than three years, I will be 70. I need very little to live the rest of my life. I can’t take the refinery or any other property or asset to my grave. Everything I do is in the interest of my country,” Mr Dangote told PREMIUM TIMES.
“This refinery can help in resolving the problem but it does appear some people are uncomfortable that I am in the picture. So I am ready to let go, let the NNPC buy me out, run the refinery. At least the country will have high-quality products and create jobs,” he added.
Dangote said the obstacles his refinery is facing seem to have vindicated friends and associates who counselled him to tread with caution as he pumped billions of dollars into the Nigerian economy.
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“Four years ago, one of my very wealthy friends began to invest his money abroad. I disagreed with him and urged him to rethink his action in the interest of his country. He blamed his action on policy inconsistencies and shenanigans of interest groups. That friend has been taunting me in the past few days, saying he warned me and that he has been proven right,” the businessman said.
Dangote’s reaction came after, the Chief Executive Officer of NMDPRA Farouk Ahmed in an interview stated that Dangote was trying to entrench monopoly in the oil and gas sector, that the products are inferior and that the 650,000-bpd refinery is still in the pre-commissioning stage and about 45 per cent completed.
Ahmed added that the country cannot risk dependence on Dangote Refinery alone by suspending petroleum products, especially Automotive Gas Oil and Dual-Purpose Kerosene, DPK.
