Dangote reveals that his group has paid back over half of what it borrowed to build Lekki refinery

ALHAJI Aliko Dangote has revealed that his company the Dangote Group has already paid back $2.4bn out of the $5.5bn loan it took out to construct the mega $19bn refinery in Lagos State designed to refine 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

Speaking at the Afreximbank annual general meeting in Nassau, the Bahamas, Alhaji Dangote, Africa's richest man, said the refinery would act as Nigeria’s strategic reserve. Located in Lekki, in Lagos State, the Dangote refinery is the biggest in West Africa and is expected to solve Nigeria's chronic petrol supply problems when running at full capacity.

Alhaji Dangote said: “We borrowed the money based on our balance sheet. I think we borrowed just over $5.5bn but we paid also a lot of interest as we went along because the project was delayed because of a lack of land, also the sand-filling took a long time. Almost five years or so we didn’t do anything.

“We started in 2018. We borrowed that much. We have, of course, paid interest and some principal, about $2.4bn. We’ve done very well. We now have only about $2.7bn left to be paid, so we’ve done very well for a project of that magnitude.”

He added that several powerful oil cartels tried to undermine his refinery project. According to Alhaji Dangote, there was a concerted fightback from those benefitting from the status quo, who were not happy to see a new player in the market.

“Well, I knew that there would be a fight but I didn’t know that the mafia in oil are stronger than the mafia in drugs. I can tell you that. Yes, it’s a fact,” Alhaji Dangote added.