“The unspoken aspect of every one of these projects was that they were intended to create large profits for the contractors, and to make a handful of wealthy and influential families in the receiving countries very happy; while assuring the long-term financial dependence and therefore the political loyalty of governments around the world. The larger the loan, the better. The fact that the debt burden placed on a country would deprive its poorest citizens of health, education, and other social services for decades to come was not considered.”
The above text was extracted from Chapter Two, titled “In for Life’, of John Perkins’ best-selling book, “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.” In the autobiography, Perkins described his role as an employee of Chas. T. Main, in convincing leaders of underdeveloped countries to accept substantial development loans for large construction and engineering projects, and trapping them in a system that promotes America’s influence and control. Perkins summarises his experiences to mean that the globalist empire-building systems, like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund etc, which promote a unipolar world controlled by America, would do all that is necessary to pin developing countries at a certain state of development and frustrate their attempts at economic liberation and freedom.
Prof. Howard Nicholas, a Sri Lankan economist lecturer in Economics at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, in a 2015 lecture (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaqgQvLn5sQ) raised issues about the role of economic policies and international institutions in the underdevelopment of Africa. Boldly, he argued that global financial and monetary institutions and policies are deliberately designed to keep Africa underdeveloped for the good of the West. His argument finds expression in the dependency theory which says that global structures are designed to make undeveloped countries perpetually dependent on developed countries.
Prof. Nicholas said, “Historically sub-Saharan Africa has been fundamental to the global prosperity of the advanced countries…Africa had a role to play. It has a role as a raw material producer. We will not allow sub-Saharan Africa to escape that… we’ll do everything to keep sub-Saharan Africa where it is; also impoverished. It’s vital for the prosperity of everyone else. So, let’s get clear about that okay.. and this means all the economic structures, all the global institutions and the economics we teach everyone is all designed to keep Africa exactly where it is.”
This is where I locate the campaign to demonise and destroy, the effort of Aliko Dangote to break the ceiling and do for Nigeria, what its government had decided not to do. I am convinced that the campaign is deliberately targeted to destroy Dangote’s refinery. And, no doubt, it has acolytes who are funded to believe that Nigeria is better at importing petroleum products rather than refining even for local consumption. Dangote had last June, during the 2024 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Afreximbank held in the Caribbean, disclosed plots to frustrate him out of the construction of the refinery. He made comments to the effect that a petroleum minister of an Arab nation had attempted to talk him out of building the refinery. He also disclosed efforts by international financiers to ‘kill’ the project by withdrawing financial support. Both attempts failed because he was stubbornly firm in his vision.
Dangote’s resolve to complete the refinery, and also operate it, ought to be a statement that every Nigerian needs to embrace, and celebrate, as proof that it is indeed possible to push beyond non-natural limits. The refinery is also classic proof that whatever the reasons are, why Nigeria’s refineries have been condemned to resources-draining conduits, are man-made. To my mind, and given the logical postulations by Perkins and Nicholas, these man-made reasons can only be in the best interest of global organisations whose focus is to build a unipolar world that serves the empire-building interest of the West. The implication of this is that the success of the Dangote Refinery would translate to the success of Nigeria and to a very large extent, distort chains that are tied to globalist organisations which prefer to suck Nigeria for crude and pin her perpetually to the import and underdevelopment tree.
Also, the success of the Dangote refinery would change the narrative on Nigeria and show that with a higher level of independent-mindedness, supported by Indigenous solutions and good governance, Nigeria can indeed break the chain put on it by loan givers who, like Perkins said, do not care about the effects of the enslavement of the country, through loans and with connivance of subservient political leaders, on the health, education and social services for Nigerians. The Dangote refinery puts a lot of things on the table for Nigeria. It has already created thousands of jobs, both directly and indirectly, and these contribute significantly to the country’s GDP. It guarantees energy security for our country and reduces Nigeria’s dependence on imported petroleum products, thus ensuring energy security and stability. It will also boost the country’s drive towards the diversification of the economy by gradually reducing the reliance on crude oil exports and promoting economic growth.
Already, it has spurred an infrastructure improvement, especially within the host community. This has also stimulated investment in related infrastructure like pipelines, storage facilities, transportation networks and real estate as well as generating significant revenue for the government through taxes and royalties. It is expected that in the long run, a more positive outcome of the refinery would be the reduction in the pump price of petrol and making petrol, diesel, Jet-A1 and kerosene, among other by-products readily available and more affordable for Nigerians.
The refinery will also boost the technological capacity of Nigerian energy engineers through technology transfer thus improving the capacity of Nigerian engineers and technicians who had been redundant with the collapse of the four refineries. Beyond boosting Nigeria’s image and national pride, it will also become the symbol of Nigeria’s economic progress and growth, with the promise to help strengthen Nigeria’s relationships with international partners and investors and help promote cooperation and economic development.
However, these positives would be lost if the government still encourages the importation of refined petroleum products into Nigeria with Dangote Refinery bulging with a surplus. It is therefore my argument that those who want to compete against Dangote Refinery should do so as refineries. Not as importers. Interestingly, owners of the refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna have indicated readiness to sell them. It is a great opportunity for those interested in the field to invest in oil refining and compete with Dangote refinery because no economy ever grew while permitting importers to compete with producers.