Aliko Dangote’s revelations about the sabotage of his \$20 billion refinery are not just shocking—they are treasonous. What the billionaire industrialist narrated is nothing short of a coordinated assault on Nigeria’s future by a predatory oil cabal determined to keep the country chained to fuel importation and economic dependency.
At the West African Refined Products Pricing and Markets Development Conference in Abuja, Dangote stripped away the pretense. He told Nigerians how his refinery—built to process 650,000 barrels per day and save the country billions in import bills—is being forced to import 10 million barrels of crude oil monthly from the United States and other countries. Why? Because International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in Nigeria refuse to sell him crude directly at competitive rates. Instead, they sell to international traders, who then slap “hefty premiums” and resell the same Nigerian crude back to the Dangote Refinery.
This isn’t a market glitch; it’s economic warfare. And the culprits are not faceless. The IOCs have weaponized their stranglehold on Nigeria’s oil sector to frustrate any effort that threatens their decades-long profiteering.
It gets worse. The refinery has also been crippled by astronomical port and regulatory charges. Dangote exposed how port charges alone account for 40% of total freight costs—making it costlier to load petroleum products in Lagos than for competitors in Lome, Togo. “This is simply unfair and unsustainable,” Dangote declared. That’s putting it mildly. It is an act of sabotage by regulatory bodies and vested interests who have long feasted fat on Nigeria’s broken energy system.
For years, Nigeria has been mocked as an oil-producing nation that cannot refine its own crude, importing fuel at outrageous costs while exporting jobs and wealth. The Dangote Refinery was supposed to end that shame. But now, the same entrenched forces that benefit from fuel imports and middleman rackets are colluding to ensure it fails.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) has made some crude available, but it is not nearly enough. And even as Nigerians groan under soaring fuel prices and a battered naira, these saboteurs are busy plotting to preserve their lucrative monopoly over the importation racket.
This is no longer just an economic issue; it is a national security crisis. A refinery of this scale—capable of making Nigeria self-sufficient in refined petroleum products—is being strangled in its cradle. The Tinubu administration must recognize this for what it is: a fight for Nigeria’s economic sovereignty.
What is shocking is the deafening silence from key government institutions. Where is the outrage from the National Assembly? Where are the sanctions from regulatory agencies? How can a country that desperately needs energy independence allow a cartel of IOCs and local collaborators to hold it hostage?
The Dangote Refinery isn’t perfect. But it represents Nigeria’s best shot in decades to break free from the fuel importation curse. To let it fail is to sentence Nigerians to endless fuel scarcity, price shocks, and economic stagnation.
President Tinubu cannot afford half-measures. He must issue an Executive Order prioritizing crude supply to domestic refineries. He must direct anti-graft agencies to investigate and prosecute any regulatory body or corporate entity found complicit in undermining the refinery’s operations. The IOCs and their local enablers must be told in clear terms: this refinery will not be strangled.
This is no time for political correctness. Nigeria must choose between pandering to foreign oil giants and protecting its national interest. The Dangote Refinery is more than an industrial project; it is a symbol of what this country could achieve if freed from the shackles of corruption and foreign exploitation.
History will not forgive this generation if we allow the refinery to be buried under greed, sabotage, and cowardice.
