Dangote alleges powerful interests tried to sabotage $20bn refinery

Aliko Dangote has revealed that an “oil mafia” of influential fuel importers attempted to sabotage the establishment of his $20 billion refinery to protect the lucrative trade of importing refined products into Nigeria.

The President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has alleged that a powerful “mafia” consisting of influential fuel importers fought aggressively to frustrate the establishment of his $20 billion refinery. Speaking in a recent interview with Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, Africa’s richest man explained that these entrenched interests feared the refinery would disrupt the decades-long trade flow of importing refined petroleum products into Nigeria. Despite Nigeria’s status as a major crude oil exporter, Dangote noted that the country has suffered through fuel queues for over half a century—a cycle of dysfunction he was determined to break through local refining.

The $20 billion project, which was officially launched in 2013, faced a decade of systemic hurdles, including a five-year delay in land acquisition alone. Dangote detailed how the project was forced to become self-sufficient by building its own port, water treatment plants, and heavy equipment facilities due to a lack of existing infrastructure. He emphasized that the obstacles were not merely logistical but were often deliberately manufactured by those profiting from the status quo. “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,” he stated.

Reflecting on the broader economic implications for the continent, Dangote lamented the “drain on foreign reserves” caused by African nations exporting raw crude only to buy back expensive finished fuel. He described the refinery as a bold necessity for regional energy security and a final solution to the indignity of citizens queuing for days to power their vehicles in an oil-rich nation. “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,” he added.

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