Nigeria, July 12 -- Aliko Dangote, founder and president/chief executive of the Dangote Group, has expressed doubt over the future functionality of Nigeria's state-owned refineries.

Mr Dangote who spoke on Thursday during a facility tour with members of the Global Chief Executive Officer Africa group from Lagos Business School at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lekki, Lagos, explained that the state-owned refineries managed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) have consumed about $18 billion in public funds without yielding results.

He added that his 650,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery was constructed after the government of late President Umar Yar'adua declined to sell the refineries to him.

"The refinerie...