Mr Aliko Dangote has confessed that building the $20 billion crude oil refinery in Lagos was not as easy as many have thought, noting that he would have killed the dream if he had known what was ahead of him.
“People think building a refinery is like building a house. But, as I always say, if I had known the scale of challenges we would face, I wouldn’t have started at all.
“We were fortunate as a group because we didn’t fully grasp what we were getting into, but we believed that nothing is impossible,” he disclosed in a chat with select journalists recently.
According to him he almost abandoned the project, but said he kept on with it because of his passion for Nigeria, which he lamented still relied on importation of petroleum product despite having abundance of crude oil.
Africa holds around 125 billion barrels in proven oil reserves, with significant contributions from Nigeria, Algeria, Angola, Egypt, and Libya—all of which rank among the world’s top 30 oil-producing nations.
“We had to keep pushing to ensure delivery,” the businessman said, expressing hope that the refinery will inspire other African countries to enhance their refining capacities and invest in value-added industries, rather than continuing to export raw materials.
“Apart from Algeria and Libya, which are self-sufficient, virtually every other African country is an importer,” Mr Dangote said, underscoring the urgent need for operational refineries on the continent.
He charged wealthy Nigerians to invest in Nigeria, as it is the only way to build the nation. He said there is no two ways about it: real growth and development cannot happen in a nation without significant investments.
He criticised the tendency of African wealth being exported and stashed abroad, calling on the continent’s entrepreneurs and affluent individuals to invest at home, noting, “It is only through such commitment that we can drive true development.”
“No nation develops without significant investments. I appeal to all wealthy Nigerians to look inward and invest here, in Nigeria, for the future of our unborn kids.
“There is hardly any country without corruption, but the difference between there and here is that, in those other corrupt nations, they invest the stolen funds in their country and grow their economy rather than keeping it in foreign banks that will not in any way impact positively on the economy,” he stated.