Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has revealed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) turned down a $750 million offer from billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote to manage the Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries.
In an exclusive interview with Channels Television, Obasanjo disclosed that the offer was made in 2007 as part of a public-private partnership (PPP) initiative aimed at improving the efficiency of the refineries.
According to Obasanjo, Dangote and his team had already made the $750 million payment when the NNPC rejected the proposal, insisting that it could manage the refineries on its own.
He recounted, “Aliko got a team together and they paid $750m to take part in a PPP arrangement for running the refineries. My successor refunded their money, and I went to him to explain what had transpired. His response was that NNPC claimed they could run the refineries. I told him, ‘But you know they cannot run it.’”
Obasanjo further lamented the poor state of Nigeria’s refineries, noting that despite the rejection of Dangote’s offer, billions of dollars have been spent on the refineries without any significant improvement.
“I was told not too long ago that since that time, more than $2 billion has been squandered on the refineries, and they still will not work,” he added.
The Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries, two of Nigeria’s key oil processing facilities, have long been plagued by inefficiencies and mismanagement, leaving the country heavily reliant on imported refined petroleum products.
