Massive Sabotage by Cartels In Downstream Sector Worries Dangote
The President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has expressed concern over the massive sabotage of downstream oil operations in Nigeria by cartels inbedded in the sector.
Dangote, who spoke to journalists at a briefing on Sunday, said public and private refineries have suffered multiple sabotages aimed at grounding operations.
According to him, the cartels operating in the oil sector in Nigeria are more dangerous than drug mafias.
They pose “bigger threat than drug mafias,” Dangote stated, and cited examples with his refinery in Lekki, where the sabotage included the removal of spare parts from a 400-ton boiler.
“Drug mafias are actually smaller than the people who are in oil and gas. They have robbed so many people in this sector,” he added.
Dangote also said that the same cartels were responsible for the destruction of oil pipeline infrastructure across the country.
“I don’t know if Mele Kyari [former NNPCL GCEO] is still in town, but I think you should go to his house in Maitama and ask him how many sabotages the Port Harcourt refinery repairs went through.
“He told me many times that they have had more than 100 sabotages at the refinery. You can ask him, and he will tell you.
“How come now, for example, all the pipelines that were built, right from the military days to date, none of them are functioning?
“The one that we have, which is from where I am from, Kano, that depot, we were not using trucks. The trucks were only going to the depot to load. Everything was piped up to that. 22 depots were built. They are all piped, all 22 depots.
“Actually, even the sediments don’t have it anymore. They have destroyed the pipes, all of them. So, if it is not sabotage, is that an earthquake? It’s not an earthquake now, because it’s sabotage. Sabotage is sabotage. So, that is what it is,” Dangote stated.
He also said that the Dangote Refinery which was commissioned in May 2023, has recorded massive losses due to theft and sabotage.
“In this refinery, we have lost maybe $82 million of stolen items. They were actually trying to make us put massive claims on insurance. Continuously, our insurance premiums will just keep going up. Yes, there is sabotage”, he said.
Dangote said that the scale of theft and sabotage forced the company to employ over 2,000 security personnel, more than the number of operational workers.
“People will come here with long pieces of cord cables and put [them] on their bodies to try and see how they can take it out.”
The group CEO warned that the scale of sabotage and organised theft in the oil sector represents a serious threat to production and national economic security.
“You should ask all the people who have ever built modular refineries. I challenge any one of them to say that nothing was stolen. That’s why we have more security people than actual workers,” he said.
In October 2025, Devakumar Edwin, Vice President of Dangote Industries Limited, disclosed that the refinery had experienced 22 attempted physical sabotage incidents since commencing operations.
The company linked some of these incidents to a mass reorganisation and dismissal of about 800 workers, which had triggered a temporary strike by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN).
