One year after its commencement of operations, Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote has revealed 18 Nigerian Engineers who worked on the $20 billion Dangote Refinery have been poached by a Qatari refinery.
He stated this at a press conference to mark the one year anniversary of the refinery which commenced petroleum refining in September 2024.
“All the 18 Nigerian engineers who worked on our refinery when it was under construction are all in Qatar. Qatar came to poach them, and they’re now expatriates in Qatar ” He said.
Dangote also revealed the bulk of the Engineers partaking in his ongoing fertiliser plant project would be Nigerians.
He however decried the lack of similar projects across the country that could offer similar jobs to Nigerians.
“… Nobody is carrying out other bigger projects that Nigeria’s can get jobs, this is what is supposed to be done when there is growth in the country.
“There are other people with more liquid capital than me in this country but when they see us going through this stress, they run abroad because they don’t want to go through the same stress.”
Brain Drain Challenge Persists
Nigeria continues to battle with brain drain with skilled personnel leaving the country in droves in search of better renumeration and working conditions.
Skilled and unskilled personnel have continued to migrate due to the seeming lack of adequate opportunities in the country.
