Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote has shed light on the struggles he faced while building his massive $23 billion refinery, the largest in Africa. Despite numerous challenges, Dangote remains committed to ensuring the success of the 650,000-barrel-per-day facility.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Forbes, Dangote described the refinery project as the most significant risk of his life. He admitted that failure would have been disastrous. “It was the biggest risk of my life. If this didn’t work, I was dead,” he stated.
One of the major challenges, according to Dangote, was dealing with the so-called “oil mafia,” a group of powerful individuals and organizations that control key aspects of the industry. He noted that they are even more influential than those in the drug trade.
“The oil mafia is more deadly than the one in drugs because, with the oil mafia, there are so many people that are involved. You might be wining and dining with them, but these are the guys that are the masters of moving things around,” he said.
Dangote’s journey to completing the refinery was filled with obstacles, including difficulties in securing financing, regulatory hurdles, and resistance from industry players. Despite these setbacks, he remained determined to push forward, seeing the project as a crucial step toward African industrialization.
“We have to build our own nation by ourselves. We have to build our own continent by ourselves, not [rely on] foreign investment,” he noted. He also pointed out that Africa has long been a dumping ground for finished products, and his refinery is designed to change that by ensuring the continent refines its own crude oil.
In addition to the refinery, Dangote is involved in other major infrastructure projects. He is working on a subsea pipeline to transport natural gas from the Niger Delta to Lagos, as well as expanding the refinery’s fertilizer plant. Looking ahead, he revealed plans to take the refinery public within the next year or two.
