Mixed Reactions Trail NNPC’s Move To Acquire 20% Equity Stake In Dangote Refinery

 

Reactions have trailed the recent report indicating that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation intends to buy a 20% equity stake in the Dangote refinery. The refinery which has been under construction for some years now with its resumption date shifted thrice now has a 2022 date for launch.

The Dangote refinery is reputed to be Africa’s biggest and the world’s largest single-train plant. According to Thisday, the NNPC Chief Operating Officer, Refining and Petrochemicals, Mr. Mustapha Yakubu made the investment plans known at the end of a two-day Nigeria Oil and Gas Opportunity Fair (NOGOF) tagged: “Leveraging Opportunities and Synergies for Post Pandemic Recovery of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry.”

Mr. Yakubu stated during the virtual event that one of its divisions, the Greenfield Refining Projects DIvision (GRPD) was handling the negotiations with Dangote Refinery

He said: “We have what we call the Greenfield refinery and the Greenfield Refining Projects Division (GRPD) of the NNPC. What we do, our strategy is to collaborate and seek strategic partnerships with private investors.

At the moment, we have Dangote Refinery, which is the 650,000 barrels per day capacity, plus a mini 80,000 tonnes per annum petrochemical plant.

What are we doing there? I can tell you today that we are seeking to have a 20 per cent minority stake in Dangote Refinery as part of our collaboration and you know that there’s a huge quantity of crude for that refinery.

That’s 650,000 barrels, going into a single crude distillation unit (CDU). When that comes on board, it will also wet the nation for us.”

When that comes on board, it will also wet the nation for us.”

But the development has elicited mixed reactions from Nigerians, some of whom are of the opinion that a regulator shouldn’t be found buying a stake in a business it ought to oversee. Some reactions monitored by Exclusive Africa are published below: