Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has highlighted the setbacks in efforts to improve the country’s refinery operations, despite warnings from Shell.
He revealed that industrialist Aliko Dangote had spearheaded a team that invested $750 million into a public-private partnership to manage the refineries, an initiative aimed at addressing Shell’s earlier concerns about inefficiency and corruption.
Obasanjo lamented that his successor reversed the deal, refunding Dangote’s investment. He recalled warning his successor about Shell’s reservations, which included poor maintenance, small refinery capacities, and corruption. Despite these warnings, the NNPC claimed they could manage the refineries—an assertion Obasanjo strongly disputed, given the corporation’s track record.
He said in an interview with Channels TV 2:38, “Aliko Dangote got a team together and paid $750 million to take part in a public-private partnership running the refinery. My successor refunded their money. I went to him and said, ‘Do you know what you have done?’ I told him what Shell had told me, but he said the NNPC claimed they wanted the refinery and could run it. I said, But you know they cannot run it.”
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