Business

Dangote Says Government Refineries Might Never Work Again

Published by Tope Fakinlede on July 11th, 2025.

Dangote Says Government Refineries Might Never Work Again

Aliko Dangote

Aliko Dangote, President of the Dangote Group, has cast serious doubt on the possibility of Nigeria’s government-owned refineries—Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna—ever returning to full operation.

Speaking in Lagos on Thursday while receiving members of the Global CEO Africa group from Lagos Business School, Dangote questioned the viability of the refineries, which are managed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC). He pointed out that despite a reported investment of around $18 billion over the years, the facilities remain non-functional.

During the visit to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lekki, which has a processing capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, Dangote highlighted that more than half of the refinery’s output is currently focused on producing Premium Motor Spirit (petrol). He contrasted this with the government-owned refineries, which, at best, allocated only about 22% of their capacity to petrol production.

Dangote also recalled a previous attempt to privatize the government refineries, noting that he and his partners had acquired them under President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration. However, the sale was reversed by his successor, the late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua, forcing Dangote and his team to relinquish control just months later.

According to data from The PUNCH, the federal government has continued to allocate large sums to these facilities. In 2021, $1.4 billion was approved for the Port Harcourt refinery’s rehabilitation, with an additional $897 million and $586 million set aside for the Warri and Kaduna refineries respectively. That same year, N100 billion was reported to have been spent on refinery upgrades, with a monthly outlay of N8.33 billion. Between 2013 and 2017 alone, $396.33 million was invested in Turnaround Maintenance efforts.

Despite these hefty expenditures, the three refineries remain out of operation.

Efforts to reach the NNPC for comments were unsuccessful, as listed contact numbers were unreachable and no response was received to inquiries sent as of the time of reporting.