The President and Chief Executive of the Dangote Group, Mr. Aliko Dangote, on Thursday visited the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) in an apparent move to mend the strained relationship between both companies during the leadership of the erstwhile Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Mele Kyari.
In a message on its X handle, the national oil company stated that during the meeting, discussions centred on “promoting mutually beneficial partnerships and fostering healthy competition between the two companies towards ensuring the nation’s energy security and advancing shared prosperity for Nigerians.”
Under the erstwhile leadership, the relationship between both companies was mostly tense, especially since the 650,000 barrels per day facility located in Lagos began processing petroleum products.
First, although the NNPC pursued a strategic stake in the Dangote Refinery initially, announcing its plan to acquire a 20 per cent equity stake in the facility for $2.76 billion, however, after an initial payment of $1 billion, the NNPC decided to reduce its equity share to about 7.2 per cent .
At the time, Aliko Dangote, Chairman of the Dangote Group, publicly stated that the NNPC failed to meet the agreed funding milestones, reason the deal was partly called off. The NNPC later boasted that its the $1 billion investment was substantially responsible for the success of the refinery.
But in a statement, the Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer of the Dangote Group, Anthony Chiejina, said the NNPC’s stance was a distortion of the facts.
“We would like to clarify that this is a misrepresentation of the situation as $1 billion is just about 5 per cent of the investment that went into building the Dangote Refinery,” Chiejina said.
Besides, the NNPC and the Dangote Refinery entered into crude oil supply agreements, which Africa’s richest man consistently flayed the national oil company for not meeting, thereby creating early operational challenges for the facility.
But the issue that mostly drew public attention was the alleged continuous importation of petroleum products by the NNPC, despite its public claims of ending imports, and despite the refinery ramping up capacity to meet domestic fuel demand.
The situation escalated when Dangote Industries accused NNPC of anti-competitive practices and filed a legal suit. The core of the case centered on NNPC allegedly refusing to offtake refined products from Dangote while continuing imports, thereby disrupting local market dynamics and undermining national refining goals.
“Earlier today, Group CEO of NNPC Ltd., Mr. Bashir Bayo Ojulari, received a delegation from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals (DPRP), led by the President/CEO of the Dangote Group, Mr. Aliko Dangote, on a courtesy visit.
“Mr. Dangote, while emphasising the need for collaborative efforts to turn impossibilities into realities, praised the composition of the new NNPC Ltd. management team, which possesses requisite experience and deep industry knowledge,” the NNPC posted.
On his part, the GCEO lauded Dangote as a ‘humble’ African leader whose achievements have brought pride to the continent.
Ojulari added that since coming on board, he has met exceptional talent within NNPC Ltd., who are keen on giving their best for the country’s growth and development.
“Both executives also committed to being the Relationship Managers for their respective organisations through sustained productive collaboration and healthy competition, thereby envisioning limitless opportunities for both organisations,” the NNPC added.