When Nigeria commissioned Dangote Refinery in May 2023 many jumped for joy amid hopes of transforming the country into a net exporter of petroleum products, but today such joy has been shortlived by revelations of underhand schemes by the billionaire businessman to rip off the poor and down-trodden Nigerians.
From afar, Aliko Dangote cuts a perfect figure of a successful business man, a pride to Nigeria and the African continent at large. But close scrutiny have since revealed the dark and ugly side of the Chairman and CEO of the Dangote Group.
From an humble beginning in 1991, the Kano-born businessman had risen to become African weathiest man with a net worth of $1.2bn garnered from lucrative ventures into foodstuffs, including pasta, sugar, salt, and wheat; cement; haulage; and other concerns.
However, the most ambitious projects that Dangote was involved in was the construction of a massive oil refinery in Lagos State. He spearheaded the project in 2013 in an effort to solve the fuel crisis in Nigeria, which, despite being a leading oil-producing country, had to import most of the refined petroleum products it needed.
But like the proverbial shylock, Dangote took advantage of the high level of corruption riding the petroleum industry to perfect a grand scheme to build the oil refinery using funds provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
In a tripod-like plot, Dangote, according to findings had sought the cooperation of former President, Muhammadu Buhari to complete the refinery and thereafter grant him a crude oil operation license, a request which the former President expressly granted without due consultation with stakeholders in the oil industry. Buhari surreptitiously agreed to commission the refinery even when it was not fully completed with Presidents of five African countries in attendance.
He reportedly shared the details of his meeting with former CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele and equally sought his support just as he allegedly convinced him that the successful completion of the refinery was of utmost priority to the former President.
Thereafter, Emefiele literally handed over the country’s treasury to Dangote by providing the needed fund. This much Emefiele alluded to during the official opening ceremony of the refinery in May when he informed that in ensuring the successful completion of the project, CBN provided over N125bn to cover the domestic currency requirements of the venture, while also ensuring the availability of foreign exchange to pay for the importation of some of the machinery.
