Government Investigation Could Impact Dangote's Lekki Refinery Opening

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Written by Paul Wiseman for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--On January 5, Nigeria's Dangote Industries Limited (Lagos) announced that its oft-delayed soft start for the Lekki refinery was scheduled for the last week of the month. But what it did not announce was that the day before, its offices had been raided by operatives of Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

According to reports, the EFCC has been investigating Dangote for "alleged preferential Forex allocations to individuals and organizations by the Godwin Emefiele-led Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)." Forex trading involves the selling of one international currency and the simultaneous buying of another.

EFCC investigators spent several hours in Dangote's Lagos headquarters scouring documents involving how the firm has allocated foreign exchange funds over a 10-year period, according to news accounts.

Sources have alleged that the CBN has favored and enriched certain companies and individuals through non-transparent allocation of foreign exchange to them, according to news accounts. Emefiele was governor of the CBN until his June 9, 2023, removal by Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, over the former's controversial handling of bank business.

Dangote, the nation's largest industrial conglomerate, is among 52 companies suspected of being involved with Emefiele's operations. MSN is reporting that as many as 85 companies may be involved. The EFCC investigation had discovered more 593 bank accounts based in the U.S., U.K. and China that were holding unauthorized Nigerian funds.

How Will This Affect Lekki's Schedule?
Industrial Info's Hillary Stevenson noted that Lekki's current problems revolve more around "consistent, timely crude supply." She added, "After a much-delayed power plant completion and equipment functionality checks of the refinery's lone, 650,000-BBL/d (barrel-per-day) crude unit, the facility was expected to begin receiving product for checks of the crude line and tests of the crude unit in September. However, it did not receive anything until mid-December, and had already pushed back that test run until the last week of January, 2024."

Should the EFCC's investigations lead to any seizing of funds, or decrease Dangote's credit rating, Stephenson says, "This could jeopardize the refinery's commissioning timeline. We've previously seen shortages of funds delay the project in the past."

Industrial Info has been on top of this story for months and will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available.

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