Nigerian billionaire and President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has dropped a bombshell accusation, alleging that the Port Harcourt Refinery was sabotaged over 100 times during its repairs.
Speaking at a recent forum, Dangote revealed that the Port Harcourt Refinery was sabotaged, suggesting the powerful and entrenched interests in the oil sector are more dangerous than drug mafias.
Dangote also alleged that the pipeline infrastructure and depots across the country had been deliberately sabotaged by these unpatriotic individuals and groups.
Dangote lamented that even his refinery is witnessing sabotage as well, noting that the drug mafia is smaller than the mafia in the oil and gas sector.
He said: “You are talking about sabotage, and I’m happy that you are also here in Nigeria. I don’t know if Mele Kyari [former NNPCL GCEO] is still in town, but I think you should go to his house in Maitama and ask him how many sabotages the Port Harcourt refinery repairs went through.
“He told me many times that they have had more than 100 sabotages at the refinery. You can ask him, and he will tell you.
‘’You know we have a boiler, 400 tonnes is the largest boiler ever built in the world, it was under operation and somebody went and removed the spare parts out of it
“If I tell you the sabotages that we went through, including some of the machine manufacturers that were on the verge of going to court, you will know what I’m saying.
“And that’s why I told you that drug mafias are actually smaller than the people who are in oil and gas, because most of the people in drugs, you know yourselves, but in the oil sector, they have roped so many people in.
How come now, for example, all the pipelines that were built, right from the military base to date, are not functioning?
“The one that we have, which is from where I am from, Kano, that depot, we were not using trucks. The depots were only going to the trucks to load. Everything was piped up to that. 22 depots were built. They are all piped, all 22 depots.
“Actually, even the sediments don’t have it anymore. They have destroyed the pipes, all of them. So, if it is not sabotage, is that an earthquake? It’s not an earthquake now, because it’s sabotage. Sabotage is sabotage. So, that is what it is.’’
Dangote said the refinery had lost about $82 million to theft and sabotage, with the oil and gas firm employing extreme security measures.
He explained that over 2,000 security personnel were employed, which is more than the number of operational workers.
He said, “In this refinery, we have lost maybe $82 million of stolen items. They were actually trying to make us put massive claims on insurance. Continuously, our insurance premiums will just keep going up. Yes, there is sabotage.’’
Dangote also accused the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed of sabotaging Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector.
He alleged that Ahmed spent about $5 million on the secondary school education of his four children in Switzerland.
“I’ve actually had people making complaints about a regulator who has actually put his children in secondary school,” Dangote said. “That secondary school education, which is six years, four of them cost Nigeria $5 million. You cannot imagine somebody paying $5 million for educating four children.”
“When you look at his income, it does not match paying this kind of fee. Even if it’s me paying $5 million for my four children, the taxman will have to ask questions,” he said.
