President and CEO of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has said that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited’s four refineries would not attract buyers even if put up for sale, citing regulatory and investment challenges.

Dangote attributed the current crisis in the downstream sector to regulatory mismanagement during the previous administration.

“During the last administration of President [Muhammadu] Buhari, there was a big mistake that was made by putting a trader as a regulator. A trader can never be a regulator, and I think that was a mismatch,” Dangote said at a briefing on Sunday in Lagos.

According to him, the mismatch had created a difficult investment climate, discouraging both local and foreign investors.

“The crisis that we’re facing is actually due to this, and what is actually paining me is that the country is paying a bigger price,” he said.

Dangote warned that the environment is not conducive to investment in refineries.

“The higher price is that nobody will come and invest in this sort of thing. Even if the NNPC today wants to sell the refineries, there can never be a buyer. Why? Because the environment is not conducive for anybody to come and put his money and set up a refinery,” he added.

The state-owned refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna, with a total capacity of 445,000 bpd, have faced chronic underperformance despite huge allocations for Turn Around Maintenance (TAM), leading to fuel importation reliance.