Founder and CEO of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has once again spoken out against the powerful forces he said tried to hamper the development of the Dangote Refinery, revisiting the idea of an "oil mafia" that has long benefited from Nigeria's outdated fuel import and subsidy regime.

• Aliko Dangote, in a recent interview, revealed that powerful groups, including international shipping companies, traders, and local elites, tried to block the Dangote Refinery to protect their profits from Nigeria's fuel imports and subsidies.
• He described these groups as an 'oil mafia' who benefited massively from a $10 billion annual fuel subsidy and the old import-export system.
• Dangote noted that these groups constituted a billion-dollar industry before he came along.
• Following the start of Dangote Refinery operations in 2023, opposition grew as vested interests sought to maintain the status quo and resisted government subsidy removal.

During the In Good Company podcast with Nicolai Tangen, Dangote was asked about the forces that attempted to thwart his refinery project, one of Africa's most ambitious industrial ventures.

According to the billionaire businessman, the opposition was mostly led by groups benefiting from Nigeria's stale and expensive fuel subsidy program.

During the podcast, Tangen asked the Nigerian top industrialists to point out who the oil mafia was, given that he had mentioned it.

“The people who are actually benefiting, because Nigeria was giving about $10 billion every year as a subsidy,” Dangote said.

He also explained that major beneficiaries included international shipping companies and commodity traders who made substantial profits by exporting crude from Nigeria and importing refined petroleum products back into the country.

“So they are shippers who are making a lot of money, and there are traders who are making tons of money, buying the crude,” he stated.

It's a trade in which they give you crude, and then you (Dangote Refinery) supply us the product. There are also the local people because fuel was subsidized, so very few people are getting allocation, so they are making billions of Naira,” Dangote explained.

He also pointed to local actors who benefited from the subsidy structure, describing a system where fuel allocation created enormous profits for a select few.

“There are also the local people because fuel was subsidized, so very few people are getting allocation, so they are making billions of Naira.

These are the people.”

Dangote has often stated that removing Nigeria's reliance on imported fuel will undoubtedly damage entrenched commercial interests.

His statements back up a long-held claim: in addition to engineering and economic obstacles, the refinery had to overcome tremendous opposition from those who stood to lose the most from its success.

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Dangote’s earlier mentions of an oil mafia

In February 2025, Aliko Dangote indicated that the establishment of his oil refinery is the most significant risk he has ever taken.

Despite the massive undertaking of establishing the refinery, the Nigerian billionaire has faced equally significant, or perhaps greater, challenges in running the business.

Dangote, in an unreserved condemnation of Nigeria’s state-owned oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), accused it of being a part of the country's "oil mafia."

“The oil mafia is more deadly than the one in drugs because, with the oil mafia, there are so many people that are involved,” says Dangote.

By May of the same year, the Nigerian billionaire stated again that he was fighting against individuals in Nigeria's long-standing oil importation system who have benefited greatly from government subsidies on imported petroleum.

He added that they are still seeking to damage his oil refinery, as "those groups have funded resistance to the Bola Tinubu government's removal of petrol subsidies and are opposed to the refinery operating easily in the country."

He promised that the fight against the ‘oil mafia’ was not one he intended to lose.

“We’re fighting, and the fight is not yet finished. But I have been fighting all my life, and I am ready and 100 per cent sure I will win at the end of the day,” Dangote said at the time.

The Dangote Refinery, located on a 6,200-acre site in the Lekki Free Zone, is the world’s largest single-train refinery.

The plant officially began operations in 2023, after more than a decade of construction and investment. However, the refinery's real challenge began after its launch.