By Ayo Kehinde
Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, says the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) once convinced his successor, late President Umaru Yar’Adua to reject a $750m offered by Aliko Dangote to manage Nigerian refineries through a public-private partnership.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Channels TV on Thursday, Obasanjo recounted failed efforts to privatise the country’s refineries and the subsequent financial losses under government management.
He said Yar’Adua had refunded Dangote’s money after NNPC officials assured him that the refineries could only be managed by them.
Obasanjo also recalled how Shell, one of the world’s largest oil companies, refused to take on the responsibility despite his government’s invitation.
He said, “I asked Shell to come and run it for us and Shell said they wouldn’t. I said, Please come and take equity, they said no. I said okay, don’t take equity, come and run it, they said no.
“Later on, I called them. 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. He said that at that time, the average refinery was going for 250,000 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.”
After Shell’s rejection, Obasanjo said he turned to Nigerian businessman, Aliko Dangote, who assembled a team to offer a solution. According to Obasanjo, Dangote paid $750 million for a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement to operate the refineries.
“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, I asked him what transpired, he said NNPC said they wanted the refinery and they could run it and I said but you know they cannot run it.
“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? They say after he has harvested 100 heaps of yam, he will also have 100 heaps of lies. You know what that means.”
Obasanjo expressed confidence in Dangote’s ability to manage his privately owned refinery, noting that government-run refineries had failed to operate effectively.
“And Aliko will make his refinery work; not only make it work, he will make it deliver”, he added.
