Fire Razes A Section Of Dangote’s $20bn Refinery, Arewa Think-Tank Reacts

Fire has razed a section of the Dangote’s $20bn dollars refinery in Lagos, barely six months after it operations took off.

Dangote Refinery Chief Corporate Communication Officer of the group, Anthony Chiejina confirmed that the fire on Wednesday was contained with no injuries recorded.

“We have swiftly contained a minor fire incident at our effluent plant today 26th Wednesday of June. There is no cause for alarm as the refinery is operating and there is no recorded injury or body harm to all our staff on duty,” he said.

Accusing the downstream sector of selling crude oil above the market price or failing to supply the refinery with crude, “this forced the refinery to purchase its crude from the United States” the refinery executive said.

It also accused the downstream and midstream regulator of sabotage and failing to stop the import of dirty fuel into the country, an allegation the regulator denied.

The refinery, which has a capacity to refine 650,000 barrels of crude per day, is expected to supply the entire West African sub-region. Dangote had recently accused oil mafias of plotting to frustrate the region from being self sufficient in energy.

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Following the fire incident, a northern group, Arewa Think Tank (ATTK), said that those who do not want Aliko Dangote to succeed were behind the fire incident that occurred in the refinery in Lagos.

In a statement by the Chief Convener of the group, Muhammad Yakubu, the think tank urged Aliko Dangote not to be disturbed by the incident.

“Enemies of Nigeria are at work, those who don’t want Dangote and Tinubu to succeed, Nigeria and Nigerians will eventually triumph. The fire is happening a few days after the owner of the refinery, Aliko Dangote explained how International Oil Companies (IOC) are trying to frustrate him.

We want to urge Aliko Dangote not to be disturbed because the journey to success is full of challenges, and it is our belief that despite the fire gutted part of the refinery, it will bounce back to function soon.

“Saboteurs and enemies of progress will definitely be put to shame because that section of the refinery is still under construction aiming at easing the problem of fuel crisis in the country.

“It is unfortunate that some dubious persons wanted to destroy the refinery which is the world’s largest single-train refinery owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote who has been contributing to economic development of our dear country, Nigeria,” the group alleged.

“Nigerians should be grateful as a people that Aliko Dangote decided to create employment by citing the refinery in the country instead of taking it to neighbouring countries at the detriments of our own country.

“So we should be grateful to him for being patriotic by citing the refinery in Lagos which is situated on a 6,180 acres (2,500 hectares) at the Lekki Free Trade Zone, Lekki, Lagos state. It is supplied with crude oil by the largest sub-sea pipeline infrastructure of the world (1,100 km long). When fully operational it will provide 135,000 permanent jobs in the region.

“We still remember that sometimes in April this year, President Tinubu commended Dangote refinery for reducing the price of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), also known as diesel when Dangote announced a reduction in the price of diesel from N1,200 to N1,000 per litre.

“It is our belief that the significant reduction in the price of diesel is expected to positively affect all the spheres of the economy and ultimately reduce the high inflation rate in the country,”

“So, for us at Arewa Think Tank, it is a big sabotage for unscrupulous elements to set the refinery ablaze at a time President Tinubu is determined to take Nigeria to the next level of socioeconomic advancement,” the statement said.