Aliko Dangote said undertaking the gigantic step of building a multi billion dollar refinery made him grey prematurely.
Mr. Dangote who was speaking during a Bloomberg TV interview said it was one venture he wouldn’t repeat in the future.
“I won’t do this kind of huge refinery project again. Doing this refinery is what gave me my grey hair.”
Speaking on the Nigeria National
Petroleum Company Limited decision to back out of its plan to invest a 20% stake in the refinery, Dangote said it was “a big mistake.”
“We gave them a good deal. We structured an agreement with them. The deal was about $2.79 billion. The first part of the money was $1 billion which they paid us about a year and half ago.
“The balance of the money was split into two. One portion is that every crude they supplied to us then, we would deduct $2 and then up till the time they finish paying that one-third. The other one-third would have come out of their own profit.
“Later, NNPC opted out from the first agreement, saying it’s a little bit confusing. They wanted the agreement to be changed.
“They said they wanted to pay cash. So, we said okay, fine. We signed another agreement, cancelling the other one. The new agreement we signed was that for them to pay us after one year.
“After one year, they will pay us the balance of $1.8 billion. The month for them to pay was June. But in June, they came back to us and said they’ve changed their mind.
“They want to remain at 7%. We said ok, fine. So we left it. Now, we own the rest of the shares. They own only 7.2%. That’s what it is. I think they made a big mistake.
“There is no more negotiation with us. That agreement is finished. It’s dead. It’s completed. That’s where we are right now,”
