NNPC ignored Dangote’s $750 offer to manage moribund refineries

Obasanjo revealed this during an interview with Channels Television on Thursday, January 2.

He said the refineries managed by the then Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is now operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).

According to Obasanjo, the old NNPC was aware of its limitations in managing the nation’s refineries but rejected Dangote’s offer.

He said, “When I was president, I wanted to do something about the three refineries we have: Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna. Aliko got a team together after I asked Shell to come and run it for us. And Shell said they wouldn’t.

“Aliko got a team together and they paid $750m to take part in PPP (public–private partnership) in running the refineries. My successor refunded their money and I went to my successor and told him what transpired. He said NNPC said they wanted the refineries and they could run it. I now said but you know they cannot run it.”

However, Obasanjo said his successor, late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, reversed the decision and refunded Dangote’s investment.

He recalled asking Shell to come and run the refineries or take equity in it but the company said it would not.

“Later on, I called the boss of Shell to come and tell me what the problem was, and he gave me four or five reasons.

“He said, first of all, they make a major profit from upstream, not from downstream. He said they run downstream just to keep their head above water.

“Two, our refineries were too small: 60,000 barrels, 100,000 barrels and I think 120,000 barrels..Three, he said our refineries were not well maintained. Four, he said that there was too much corruption around the activities of our refinery and they would not want to get involved in that,” he added.

The former president said he had confidence in Dangote’s ability to effectively manage his privately owned refinery, contrasting it with the government’s inefficiency.STRANGE INDEED! DOCTORS HAS PROVEN IT, SEE WHAT HAPPEN TO YOUR FACE AT EXACTLY 2AM WHILE YOUR ARE ASLEEP, A TINY ANIMAL COMES OUT FROM YOUR FACE| SEE THE WORKS IT DOES HERE.

“I was told not too long ago that since that time, more than $2 billion have been squandered on the refinery and they still will not work.

“If a company like Shell tells me what they told me, I will believe them. If anybody tells you now that it is working, why are they now with Aliko? And Aliko will make his refinery work; not only make it work, he will make it deliver,” Obasanjo maintained.

In December, 30, the NNPCL announced that the 125,000-barrel-per-day Warri Refining and Petrochemicals Company in Delta State had resumed operations.

The development followed the restart of operations at the 60,000-barrel-per-day Port Harcourt Refinery a month earlier.

The ICIR reported that the operational capacity of the later refinery came under intense scrutiny after its reopening.

The scrutiny followed controversies that petroleum products loaded from the facilities were not newly refined but products stored in the storage tank of the facility in the last three years.

Obasanjo served as Nigeria’s democratically-elected president from May 1999 to May 2007, during which he focused on reforming critical sectors of the economy.

The statesman was also a former military head of state between February 1976 and October 1979.STRANGE INDEED! DOCTORS HAS PROVEN IT, SEE WHAT HAPPEN TO YOUR FACE AT EXACTLY 2AM WHILE YOUR ARE ASLEEP, A TINY ANIMAL COMES OUT FROM YOUR FACE| SEE THE WORKS IT DOES HERE.

His administration commenced the efforts to deregulate the downstream sector.…Tap To Read The Full Story Here.