Following the previous sabotage of Nigeria’s four state-owned refineries, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), has urged Nigerians to pray for divine intervention in the face of attempts by dishonest oil marketers to impede the operations of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
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During the ‘Total Restoration’ Special Holy Ghost Service in the capital city in November 2024, the esteemed priest called for prayers across the country. Although the Dangote Petroleum Refinery was not specifically mentioned by Adeboye, his comments reflected the continuous efforts by oil marketers to stop the refinery from operating as intended. The only facility in Nigeria that is currently refining gasoline is the Dangote Refinery in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos. Adeboye’s remarks mirrored the conflict between the refinery and oil marketers who want to keep importing fuel for their own benefit.
After years of unsuccessful attempts to revitalize Nigeria’s four public refineries, which had spent billions of Naira with little success, Pastor Adeboye reminded the congregation that God had created Aliko Dangote to establish a refinery. He questioned why gasoline imports continue to occur even if Nigeria is a significant producer of crude oil. He questioned, “Are we cursed?” “We invested a lot of money in our four refineries, but none of them are operating.
However, God sent someone to construct a functional refinery. He is not from my village and is not a related. “Why should my people suffer when I have the means to build a refinery that can work?” asks one Nigerian, who is not even a Christian. Some individuals want to prevent him from selling the gasoline he is purifying so they may continue importing. In addition, Adeboye highlighted the harm done by the fuel subsidy, characterizing it as a major resource drain that exacerbates Nigeria’s growing debt and corruption.
He emphasized that while most Nigerians applauded President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s announcement in 2023 that the subsidy would stop, oil marketers who benefited from the subsidy regime were incensed. According to the well-known pastor, these marketers have partnered with a few International Oil Companies (IOCs) and other influential groups in order to block the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
Among other things, this entails limiting access to crude oil and requiring Dangote to import it from nations like the US. He urged prayer for the complete restoration of the nation, pointing out that the Nigerian people are bearing the consequences as a result of the skyrocketing costs of necessities, which have made many things unaffordable for regular people.
“The masses are the ones suffering because these marketers, who are bent on keeping imports alive, already have more money than they can ever spend,” he stated. Oil marketers continue to put pressure on the government to permit continuous gasoline imports even though the Dangote Petroleum Refinery can provide all of Nigeria’s petroleum product needs and even export excess fuel. The Naira has continued to weaken as a result of this added pressure.
In accordance with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), the Crude Oil Refineries Owners Association of Nigeria (CORAN) has urged the government to shield regional refineries from unfair competition from importers and foreign petroleum merchants.
