Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has accused powerful interests in Nigeria’s petroleum sector of deliberately working to undermine his multibillion-dollar refinery.

Speaking in Lagos on Monday at the launch of compressed natural gas-powered trucks for direct fuel distribution, the Dangote Group president compared the pushback to the sabotage that crippled Nigeria’s once-thriving textile industry.

He noted that the refinery’s first year of petrol production had been marked by fierce resistance from entrenched players in the downstream sector.

“The past year has been a very rough journey, I must confess. It wasn’t easy because we came in to change the narratives. We came in to change the system of how things have been done in the downstream.

“We have people who are used to rent collection. We have people who believe we have taken food from their tables,” Dangote said.

Dangote alleged that international traders and local marketers were working together to undermine domestic refining, choosing instead to profit from fuel importation. “The international traders and the local marketers all connive to suffocate any refinery,” he warned.

His comments follow ongoing disputes between the refinery and major trade groups, including the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers and the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria.

NUPENG recently shut down fuel depots, alleging that the refinery prevented its drivers from joining the union. DAPPMAN, meanwhile, accused the refinery of distorting the market by selling petrol to international traders at a discount of ₦65 per litre compared to domestic buyers.

Dangote rejected the allegations, maintaining that the refinery had been compelled to adjust its export pricing simply to remain viable.

“Sometimes we export a little bit cheaper than what we sell domestically, not because we want to, but because we were being suffocated. We are charged premiums on crude, competing with subsidised Russian products, and the only way to keep the refinery running was to sell at lower margins,” he noted.

He explained that petrol remains relatively cheaper in Nigeria because the refinery is deliberately absorbing costs under the naira-for-crude arrangement.

“People don’t know that we’re actually sacrificing a lot because the crude we buy through the naira-for-crude deal cannot be exported. We are required to process it and supply locally. At a point, we were even paying a $6 premium to Brent when Russian crude was going for $20,” he revealed.

He further noted that about 85 percent of the petrol consumed in neighbouring Benin Republic is smuggled from Nigeria, a trend that continues to distort the downstream market.

Countering suggestions that the facility lacks capacity, Dangote disclosed that the refinery exported 1.6 billion litres of petrol between June and August alone.

Dangote reiterated that his refinery has the capacity to meet Nigeria’s petrol demand while generating employment. He revealed that the newly deployed trucks would create around 24,000 jobs, with drivers earning up to three times the national minimum wage.