President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has dismissed suggestions that he should acquire one of Nigeria’s idle government-owned refineries, saying he prefers to focus on expanding the capacity of his Lekki refinery from 650,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million bpd.

He made this remark while announcing the expansion of the $20 billion facility in Lagos.

Dangote, accompanied by his friend Femi Otedola, said he preferred to expand his own refinery rather than risk being accused of creating a monopoly.

He added that groups such as the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria and other wealthy Nigerians should consider purchasing the government refineries or investing in new ones.

“Buying those refineries? Once we touch them, you will hear a lot of noise. There are other people with a lot of money, maybe more cash than we have, who we believe should go and try their own luck, so that there won’t be talk about monopoly.

“There will be talk about other people having opportunities. And I think we have a group like DAPPMAN; they should go and buy some of the refineries. If they are not for sale, then they should actually go and put up their own refinery. So, I think it is far better for other people to go and buy, so we will not be the only ones supporting Mr President’s policy,” he said.

Dangote revealed that President Bola Tinubu had assured him of the federal government’s support for the petroleum sector, particularly through the supply of crude oil.

“At least there is now support from the President. The President is supporting this sector to refine all our crude into petroleum products. And I think other people, too, should take this opportunity.

“For us, we already have our own infrastructure, and we want to double our capacity rather than going somewhere else. We already designed it that way anyway. It is just that we said, ‘Fine, let us start. If the condition is conducive, we will go ahead and double our capacity.’ And that is what we are doing. We are actually more than doubling a bit. We are going to 1.4 million from 650,000.

“So, I think there are thirty people that have this sort of idea of either working in partnership with the NNPC to revive those refineries, which will help. All of us will have to contribute our quota to be able to achieve that $1tn economy. It does not come that easily. So, we are doing our own, and I believe others should do theirs too,” Dangote stated.

It will be recalled that in May, Dangote stated that the NNPC refineries might never become operational again.

He noted that despite spending about $18 billion on their rehabilitation, the facilities had remained non-functional.