Following the Dangote Group’s revelation of its struggles to access crude oil, Nigerians on social media have accused International Oil Companies (IOCs) of sabotaging the process. Civil society organisations, Nigerian students, and social media users have voiced their displeasure, urging the Federal Government to protect the Dangote Refinery from any form of sabotage.

The state coordinator of the Initiative for Defence of Democracy and Justice, Alhaji Aliyu Usman Kaoje, issued a stern warning to the saboteurs. “Let us sound a strong warning to them to desist forthwith whatever they are doing directly or indirectly to frustrate the operations of the refinery,” Kaoje stated.

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Financial planning expert Kalu Aja emphasised the Nigerian National Petroleum Company’s (NNPC) responsibility in supporting Dangote’s investment. “If Dangote needs crude, NNPC should support its 20 per cent investment by giving Dangote its oil equity,” Aja said.

Hector Igbikiowubo, publisher of Sweet Crude Reports, questioned why the NNPC isn’t allocating all its 445,000 barrels per day to the Dangote Refinery. Speaking on a Channels Television programme, he asked, “How come the NNPC isn’t allotting all of its 445,000 barrels per day to the Dangote Refinery for refining?”

A user on X, AgriGATE Nigeria, tweeted: “If @DangoteGroup @AlikoDangote refinery fail then @NigeriaGov can be said to be complicit in conspiracy against the refinery. The American government goes to great lengths to protect the interests of American companies. Ours can’t be left at the mercy of international oil companies.”

Another user, Eguando, appealed to President Bola Tinubu to ensure the refinery’s success. “Dear President @officialABAT, the only refinery built by a Nigerian and African in the last 40 years in Africa, that will liberate our economy and that of Africa, should not fail. @AlikoDangote Refinery needs to get all the protection needed to succeed.”

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He further criticised the IOCs for not building any refineries despite benefiting from Nigeria’s crude oil for over 60 years. “They the IOCs have enjoyed exporting our crude oil for the last 60 years or more without building one refinery each or collectively building one for us as a country to reap the benefit, yet one Nigerian has taken the initiative and they want to do everything to derail it,” he said.

Ayodeji Oluwadamilare remarked, “I am not even surprised there are people who want that refinery to fail. They enjoy the status quo of subsidy and don’t want it to end… Wicked humans… They will be shamed at last…”

Shimsun called for accountability among the IOCs and corrupt civil servants. “The IOCs must be brought to heel and the corrupt civil servants at NMDPRA who are bent on keeping the system poisonously inefficient should be made to answer for their actions.”

Oseni Lanre asserted, “The refinery has to work and it must now!”

It is noteworthy that Devakumar Edwin, Vice President, Oil and Gas at Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), accused the IOCs in Nigeria of attempting to undermine the Dangote Oil Refinery and Petrochemicals. Edwin claimed that the IOCs are deliberately frustrating the refinery’s efforts to buy local crude by inflating the premium price above the market rate, compelling the refinery to import crude from countries as distant as the United States, which incurs high costs.

“While the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) is trying their best to allocate the crude for us, the IOCs are deliberately and willfully frustrating our efforts to buy local crude. The NUPRC recently met with crude oil producers and refinery owners in Nigeria to ensure full adherence to Domestic Crude Oil Supply Obligations (DCSO) as outlined under section 109(2) of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA). It seems that the IOCs’ objective is to ensure that our Petroleum Refinery fails. They either demand exorbitant premiums or claim that crude is unavailable. At some point, we paid $6 above the market price. This has forced us to reduce our output and import crude from the US, increasing our production costs,” Edwin explained.