The President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has doubted the possibility of the state-owned Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries functioning again.
Dangote also stated that the refineries, which are under the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, had gulped up to $18bn, yet have refused to work.
The billionaire businessman spoke on Thursday while hosting members of the Global CEO Africa from the Lagos Business School, after a tour of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lekki, Lagos.
According to Dangote, the 650,000-capacity Dangote refinery, which he built after the government of late President Umar Yar’adua aborted his acquisition of the government refineries now has over 50 per cent of its output dedicated to Premium Motor Spirit (petrol), saying that even government refineries committed just 22 per cent of their production to petrol.
Dangote recalled how he and his team had to return the refineries to Yar’adua, a few months after former President Olusegun Obasanjo left office in 2007.
According to him, the former managers of the refinery had told Yar’Adua that Obasanjo sold the facilities below their costs as a parting gift to him.
“The refineries that we bought before, which were owned by Nigeria, were doing about 22 per cent of PMS. We bought the refineries in January 2007. Then we had to return them to the government because there was a change of government.
“And the managing director at that time convinced Yar’adua that the refineries would work. They said they just gave them to us as a parting gift or so. And as of today, they have spent about $18bn on those refineries, and they are still not working. And I don’t think, and I doubt very much if they will work,” he said.
Dangote emphasised that the turnaround maintenance of the refineries was like trying to modernise a car built 40 years ago, when technology has advanced.
“(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,” he stated.