Nigerian Journalist Accuses iNGO of Plot to Sabotage Dangote Refinery

Nigerian journalist David Hundeyin has accused Dialogue Earth, a London-based international non-governmental organization (iNGO), of scheming a sinister plot to influence the Nigerian government to scuttle the Dangote Refinery.

Hundeyin revealed on his X (formerly Twitter) handle, @DavidHundeyin, that Dialogue Earth approached him with an offer of N800,000 to write an article highlighting the refinery’s alleged environmental dangers and its impact on Nigeria’s energy transition commitments.

He alleged that Dialogue Earth, which receives support from ClimateWorks, an NGO “blacklisted in India for funding organizations working against India’s national interest,” is working with external interests to counteract the benefits of the refinery for West Africans.

WikkiTimes reports that Dangote Refinery has been at loggerhead with Nigerian government and regulators with many accusing the government officials of deliberate efforts to destroy the $19.5 billion dollar investment by the richest African in Nigeria.

The government and regulatory agencies have debunked the accusations.

However, Mr. Hundeyin alleged that “ a group of external interests working in tandem with the internal interests” are working “to counteract the interests of half a billion West Africans.”

“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.”

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“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. I’ve attached screenshots from the brief below, the journalist narrated in an X post.

According to Hundeyin, the iNGO which is headed by Sam Geall, an Oxford professor is supported by the NGOs funded by the American intelligence such as Ford Foundation and ClimateWorks.

“For whatever reason, it is now quietly mobilising a resistance campaign against what it describes as “Nigeria’s first refinery.” Apparently, the status quo of Africa’s largest oil producer having no functioning oil refinery to beneficiate its own oil was not a problem for Dialogue Earth and the American CIA fronts who fund it,” he wrote.

Hundeyin alleged further that western interests that benefit from the existing arrangement would not want to see Africa succeed.

“I’m putting this out there publicly so that nobody will henceforth use the term “conspiracy theory” when it is pointed out for the umpteenth time, that there are American and European state and private interests that are heavily invested in keeping Africa exactly as poor as it is, and that they regularly push levers most of us do not even know exist, to make sure that this status quo is protected. These people believe that Africans should not exist or have nice things in this world. Apparently, the sole purpose of our existence is to enhance their experience of the planet and all that it has to offer, he said.