In a stunning revelation, the management of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery has declared that the facility has been the target of a concerted campaign of sabotage, with 22 deliberate incidents recorded since it began operations.
The company’s Vice President, Oil and Gas, Devakumar Edwin, made the disclosure during a facility tour by former presidential aide Reno Omokri, framing the attacks as the latest in a series of efforts to see the project fail.
“They said the refinery would never come up. Then they said it would not be commissioned or start production. Later, they spread false news about gas supply problems. Now, they are trying to insinuate operational breakdowns. None of that is true,” Edwin stated, dismissing recent speculations about the refinery’s operational status. He described the claims as “completely wrong” and part of a pattern of misinformation aimed at discrediting the refinery’s progress.
The vice president provided detailed insight into the nature of the threats facing the massive 650,000 barrels per day facility. “We have been under repeated attacks. We have experienced 22 cases of sabotage. In some cases, people tried to start fires or open valves to cause damage,” Edwin revealed. He credited the plant’s advanced safety architecture for preventing disaster, noting that “fortunately, because this is an ultra-modern refinery, our fire protection system immediately detects and controls such incidents.”
Amidst the security challenges, the company insisted that its production and storage capacities remain robust. In a significant disclosure, Edwin announced that the refinery currently has over 312 million litres of petrol in its storage tanks, aside from its ongoing daily production. He reaffirmed that the plant, with its vast capacity, was fully capable of meeting Nigeria’s entire demand for petrol, diesel (AGO), and aviation fuel (Jet A1), while still exporting nearly 50 per cent of its products.
Reno Omokri, who witnessed the scale of operations first-hand, expressed amazement at the export activity already taking place. He disclosed that about 650 ships had loaded products from the refinery within the past year. “In less than a year, 650 ships have come here to load petroleum products for export. That’s an incredible achievement,” Omokri said. He argued that the narrative surrounding the refinery had profound implications for the national economy, stressing that “the true strength of a country’s currency lies not in its volume but in the productive and export capacity of its economy.” He urged both citizens and institutions to support the refinery’s operations, stating that Nigerians had no option but to support the refinery to succeed.
The tour was also attended by the chairman of Bayelsa Traditional Rulers’ Council, King Bubaraye Dakolo, who commended the Dangote Group for the scale and impact of the investment. He described the refinery as a “revolutionary investment” that must be sustained for the benefit of Nigeria’s economy. The company also used the opportunity to clarify that a recent reorganisation affecting staff had nothing to do with the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), seeking to separate internal staffing matters from the external threats of sabotage it now highlights.
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