J.P Morgan Didn’t Believe Dangote Can Build A Refinery—Emefiele

Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele has said that United States- based lender, J.P Morgan Chase & Co did not believe that Aliko Dangote could handle and complete his 650,000 barrels per day refinery project.

Emefiele on Tuesday at the Bi-Annual RT200 Non-Oil Export Summit in Lagos, recounted the drama between JP Morgan and the Nigerian authorities back in 2015 when the US-based institution threatened to expel Nigeria from its Government Bond Index for Emerging Markets (GBI-EM) by the end of September that year.

J.P Morgan is US richest bank.

J.P Morgan announced the embarrassing decision in May 2015, blaming lack of liquidity and transparency in the Nigerian foreign exchange market.

JP Morgan had on January 16, 2015 placed the country on a negative index watch on the Government Bond Index with a decision to assess Nigeria’s place on the GBI over the few months.

But the Nigerian authorities in a rare joint press statement by the Federal Ministry of Finance (FMF), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and the Debt Management Office (DMO), openly faulted the premise and conclusions upon which the J.P Morgan arrived at the decision.

However, Emefiele narrated how the country begged J.P Morgan on the matter promising to improve FX liquidity through increasing proceeds from export.

The CBN boss said the apex bank named the Dangote refinery as one of the key projects that would help the country to conserve FX.

The refinery will be commissioned on Monday May 22, 2023, THE WHISTLER understands.

Emefiele said, “And the story is this, that we were about to be expelled and I use the word expelled from the J.P Morgan Index and we were telling them about what we will be doing in the country to diversify the base of the Nigerian economy.

“We talked about the fact that in line with the president’s dream, that we will continue to produce what we eat and eat what we produce- that is import substitution.

“And that as much as possible we will also see how we can deepen our export potentials to raise export earnings for our country so that we can fund our imports operation.

“They said how do you intend to raise your export and I used our big brother, the richest black man on earth as an example because as at that time, the Dangote refinery foundation was laid about five to six years ago (as at the time) and I said we are going to be building a refinery where we will no longer be importing petrol.”

Emefiele said J.P Morgan was not convinced that Dangote could build the refinery.

He narrated, “And we will not just be producing and consuming our petrol locally, we will be exporting. They didn’t believe this because they said building a refinery is a project made for sovereigns that building refineries is not made for individuals and that I was talking about an individual building a refinery.

“Up till last month,even when we talk about Dangote Refinery will kick off soon, I kept saying December 2022, they can’t say no it won’t happen but today I am happy that we are at the verge of commission the Dangote Refinery.”