•Blames Senator Ibikunle Amosun's Administration
| The Daily Crucible | Monday, December 27, 2021
By Mariam Adekunle, Abeokuta
Governor Dapo Abiodun has lamented the loss of $16b Dangote refinery project to Lagos by Ogun State under the watch of the then Senator Ibikunle Amosun - led administration.
The prospect of attracting multibillion naira investments began during the administration of Otunba Gbenga Daniel, who conceived the Olokola Free Trade Zone(OKFZ) and Olokola Liquified Natural Gas(OKLNG) to be located at Ode Omi in bitumen rich Ogun Waterside Local Government Area of the State but the OKFZ project and related matters were shoved aside by the succeeding administration hours after it came on board in 2011.
Conceived by Daniel in conjunction with the Ondo State Government at the time to pull investors far and near to the area, OKFZ was expected to give birth to Olokola deep seaport project and serves as a multipurpose deep seaport complex and an exporting processing zone.
Abiodun said the loss of the refinery project followed a break in discussion between the immediate past administration and Dangote.
The governor recalled that he had the privilege to work as the chairman of the Olokola Free Trade Zone that was meant to have the refinery cited in the state, added that the project was not just conceived with the aim of refining petroleum products only, but to take advantage of the mining lease that as 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 administration which led to the loss of that project to Lagos state; a sixteen billion dollars was lost to another state.
"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," he said.
Abiodun made this known during the Convocation Lecture he delivered at the 2nd and 3rd convocation ceremony of the Mountain Top University with the topic, "Quest for Excellence: The Nexus of Faith, Knowledge and Resilience".
He, however, expressed optimism that the state will become oil producing, saying his administration is working towards ensuring that the state takes advantage of its oil rich deposit and becomes an oil producing state.
"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," he said.
The governor affirmed that the state has very rich oil reserves in Tongeji Island, adding that "Ogun state is situated in the Dahomey Basin, which stands for the Niger Delta that goes all the way to Ghana".
"Everyone of the states in that corridor are oil producing today, even Ondo and Lagos states," Abiodun submitted.
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