President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has renewed his claims of entrenched sabotage within Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, describing what he termed an “oil mafia” as more powerful and organised than drug cartels.
Speaking during a press briefing at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lekki, Lagos, on Sunday, Dangote said criminal networks opposed to local refining had inflicted extensive financial losses and physical damage on his refinery and on national petroleum infrastructure.
According to him, the scale and sophistication of sabotage in the oil and gas industry far exceeds that associated with drug trafficking.
“I told you that the drug mafia are actually smaller than the people who are in oil and gas. Most people involved in drugs are known, but in the oil sector, there are so many people involved,” Dangote said.
He disclosed that the Dangote Refinery had recorded losses of about $82 million due to theft and vandalism, adding that some of the actions appeared designed to force the company into making large insurance claims, which would ultimately drive up insurance premiums.
“In this refinery alone, we have about $82 million worth of stolen items. What they were trying to do was to make sure we put in massive insurance claims. But there is no free lunch—once you do that, your insurance premiums keep rising,” he said.
Dangote alleged that sabotage was widespread across the refining ecosystem, insisting that similar experiences were common among operators of modular refineries.
“That is why we have more security personnel in this refinery than actual refinery workers,” he added.
He cited specific incidents, including the removal of a critical component from a 400-ton boiler—described as the largest of its kind globally—while it was still in operation.
“We had a boiler under operation, and somebody went there and removed a spare part from it. If I tell you all the sabotage we went through, including issues involving some machine manufacturers, you will understand. Some of these matters are already close to litigation, so I cannot go into details,” Dangote said.
The businessman also extended his claims to Nigeria’s broader petroleum infrastructure, arguing that the widespread destruction of pipelines and depots across the country pointed to deliberate sabotage rather than neglect.
“All the pipelines built from the military era till today—none of them are functioning. Twenty-two depots were built and fully piped, yet today, even the pipelines themselves have been destroyed. If that is not sabotage, then what is it?” he asked.
Dangote further claimed that repeated acts of sabotage had also affected the rehabilitation of government-owned refineries, alleging that the Port Harcourt Refinery alone suffered over 100 incidents during repair works.
He urged journalists to verify the claim with officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
In addition, Dangote raised concerns about what he described as regulatory failures and alleged corruption in the downstream sector. He called for an investigation into claims that the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed, spent about $5 million on the education of his four children in Switzerland, saying the matter deserved public scrutiny.
Dangote’s comments are consistent with earlier statements. In June 2024, he alleged that local and international criminal networks had made repeated attempts to sabotage the Dangote Refinery project. He has also accused international oil traders and local marketers of resisting local refining in order to preserve profits from fuel importation.
In September 2025, Dangote again warned of what he described as coordinated efforts by foreign traders and local interests to frustrate refinery operations, claiming that “international traders and local marketers connive to suffocate any refinery.”
