Investigative journalist exposes foreign NGO's smear campaign targeting Dangote Refinery

Controversial investigative journalist, David Hundeyin has exposed a plot by an international NGO, known as Dialogue Earth over their attempt to start a smear campaign targeting Dangote Refinery under the pretext of environmental concerns.

Hundeyin revealed the smear campaign in a series of posts on X Friday, August 9, 2024 disclosing that the foreign NGO previously known as China Dialogue Trust offered him $500 (N800,000) to write an article focusing on environmental issues surrounding Nigeria’s first major oil refinery.

In a series of screenshots showing the requirements and angles of the article, the overarching objective was to create a pretext for the Nigerian government to potentially shut down or restrict the refinery’s operations, citing “energy transition commitments” and “environmental policy.”

This latest attempt comes as the Dangote Refinery accused the international oil companies (IOCs) of working against the refinery's success.

Meanwhile, Hundeyin revealed that he initially agreed to the offer to collect evidence of the NGO’s true intentions.

Excerpts of this post read: “Last week, I received an N800,000 offer from an international NGO called Dialogue Earth (formerly known as China Dialogue Trust) to write an article essentially saying that Dangote Refinery is terrible for the environment because something something “Environmental Concerns,” something something “Climate Change,” something something “Energy Transition Policy,” something something “COP 28.”

“The (unstated but clearly implied) thrust of the brief was for a prominent local voice to put their name on an article that is an argument or a premise for the Nigerian government to kill the refinery based on its “energy transition commitments” and “environmental policy.”

“This conclusion wasn’t immediately apparent when they reached out to me, but I suspected where it was heading, and I quickly accepted the offer so that I could see the brief and obtain hard evidence,” Hundeyin said.

His post has since had over a million impressions on X and was also retweeted by notable Nigerians such as Femi Otedola, among others.

Dialogue Earth is yet to respond publicly to these allegations at the time of filing this report.

Meanwhile, Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote said in a recent interview with CNN that the “mafia in the oil industry” is even more powerful than those in the drug cartel, highlighting the level of sabotage the project has faced.

Detractors believe that the 650,000 barrel-per-day refinery is designed to reduce Nigeria’s and other African nations’ reliance on imported petrol from Europe and America—a move that some believe could disrupt the economic dominance of the Western oil market.

Dangote emphasized that the refinery will not only address Nigeria’s oil challenges but also serve as a strategic reserve for the country’s petrol industry.

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