Prince Dapo Abiodun, Ogun State Governor, has lamented that Ogun State lost the $16 billion Dangote Refinery to Lagos because of former Governor Senator Ibikunle Amosun’s disagreement with Aliko Dangote.
The Governor spoke 23 December while delivering the Convocation Lecture at the 2nd and 3rd convocation ceremony of the Mountain Top University, Ibafo, Ogun state.
Prince Dapo Abiodun spoke on the topic, ‘Quest for Excellence: The Nexus of Faith, Knowledge and Resilience’.
He expressed confidence that the state will become oil-producing, stating, “we are working assiduously on that, so, I accept this challenge, we will further strengthen our resolve to ensure that we bring Ogun State to oil-producing status in the very near future.”
Prince Dapo Abiodun said he had the privilege to work as the chairman of the Olokola Free Trade Zone that was meant to have the refinery cited in Ogun state.
According to him, the project was not just conceived with the aim of refining petroleum products, but to take advantage of the mining lease that has been awarded around the corridor.
“I worked as chairman of Olokola Free Trade Zone that was meant to have the Dangote refinery cited in Ogun Waterside.
However, discussion broke down between Dangote and the then Amosun administration which led to the loss of that project to Lagos state; a sixteen billion dollars investment was lost to another state.
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“That project was conceived with the aim of not just refining petroleum in Ogun, but also take advantage of the mining lease that had been awarded around that corridor that has even not begun to be exploited,” Dapo Abiodun said.
The governor confirmed that the state had highly significant oil reserves on Tongeji Island, and that “Ogun state is situated in the Dahomey Basin, which stands for the Niger Delta that extends all the way to Ghana.”
“Everyone of the states in that corridor are oil-producing today, even Ondo and Lagos states”, he submitted.
Source: ReubenAbati.com.ng
