Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has revealed how the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) rejected a $750 million offer by billionaire business tycoon Aliko Dangote to manage the Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries in 2007.
Obasanjo made this disclosure during an exclusive interview with Channels Television, where he expressed his frustration over the NNPC’s decision despite its evident inability to efficiently run the refineries.
According to Obasanjo, “Aliko got a team together and they paid $750m to take part in PPP (Public–Private Partnership) in running the refineries. My successor refunded their money and I went to my successor and told him what transpired. He said NNPC said they wanted the refineries and they can run it. I now said but you know they cannot run it.”
Obasanjo served as Nigeria’s democratically elected President from May 1999 to May 2007 and was previously the country’s military head of state from February 1976 to October 1979.
Last year, tensions emerged between Dangote Refinery and regulatory authorities in Nigeria’s oil sector over operational standards and market dynamics. Officials of Dangote Refinery accused international oil companies (IOCs) of denying them access to crude oil and charging a premium of $6 above the global market rate when they did sell.
The refinery also raised concerns about the continued issuance of licenses to petrol marketers for importation, fearing it would undermine its operations. However, in response, the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed, countered that diesel produced by the refinery was of inferior quality compared to imported alternatives.
