By Kingston Magare 11-7-2025
Billionaire industrialist Aliko Dangote has warned that the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries may never roar back to life despite the huge investment of $18billion in maintenance and repair costs.
Dangote who is running one of the biggest refineries in the world made this prediction while playing host to members of the Global CEO Africa from the Lagos Business School (LBS) who were on tour of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lekki, Lagos.
He told his guests that he started building the Dangote refinery after the late President Umar Yar’adua reversed his acquisition of the government refineries. And it’s been almost 18 years after that episode yet the Nigerian refineries are still in a state of quagmire.
“And as of today, they have spent about $18billion on those refineries, and they are still not working. And I don’t think, and I doubt very much if they will work”, Dangote said.
“The turnaround maintenance is like you trying to modernise a car that was built 40 years ago, when technology and everything have changed. Even if you change the engine, the body will not be able to take the shock of that new technology engine.”
Nigeria National Petroleum boss Bayo Ojulari in an interview with Blumberg admitted that fixing the refineries will take some time.
“We’ve invested significantly in the refineries over recent years and introduced various technologies,” Ojulari explained. “However, we have encountered challenges.”
“Some of the technologies have not delivered as expected. Furthermore, refurbishing ageing refineries that have remained idle for a long time has proven to be more complex than anticipated.”
“As a result, we are currently reviewing all aspects of our refinery strategy. We aim to finalise this assessment before the year ends, and the findings may prompt a shift in our approach,” he added.