The Presidency has reacted to the recent controversies surrounding the functionality of ?angote Refinery in Nigeria, expressing optimism that the oil company will come to reality irrespective of the challenges.
President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, assured that “?angote refinery must not fail” while reacting to the tweet about the challenges of the Nigerian private refinery.
Recall that in a video posted on social media, President of the Dangote Group, Aliko ?angote disclosed that he paid $100 million for the land where he built the refinery in Lagos and was not trying to create a monopoly in the oil sector.
?angote was earlier reported to have urged the House of Representatives to investigate the quality of diesel and petrol at filling stations across Nigeria. The entrepreneur requested the House to set up a committee to test products at various filling stations, citing damage to vehicles and engines caused by substandard products. He also called for an investigation into the quality of laboratories used to test imported products, comparing them to those at the ?angote Refinery.
?angote subsequently offered to have his refinery’s products independently tested, confident it would attest to their quality and expose issues with other products in the market.
The ?angote Refinery has faced accusations of seeking a monopoly, but Aliko ?angote denied this, stating that the company received no special incentives and did not prevent other players from operating.
In a related development, the ?angote Refinery says is in discussions with Libya to import crude oil for its 650,000 barrels per day plant, as it increases production.
The vice-president of ?angote Industry Limited (DIL), Devakumar Edwin, who shared this information with American-based media, Reuters, on Sunday, also added that the refinery will seek crude from Angola as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL has been unable to meet the demand of the 650,000bpd refinery.
Since beginning operations in January, ?angote has faced difficulties securing adequate crude supplies in Nigeria. Despite being Africas largest oil producer, the country struggles with theft, pipeline vandalism, and low investment. As a result, ?angote has resorted to importing crude from as far as Brazil and the United States.
We are talking to Libya about importing crude. We will talk to Angola as well and some other countries in Africa, Edwin said, in an issued statement.
