Nigerian investigative journalist David Hundeyin has revealed that an International Non-governmental Organisation (INGO) offered him N800,000 to write an article discrediting the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery.

In a series of tweets on Saturday, Hundeyin explained that he decided to make this information public to send a message to external interests working alongside those within the country who are determined to counteract the interests of half a billion West Africans.
According to Hundeyin, the INGO, which he identified as Dialogue Earth, wanted to contract him to portray the refinery as dangerous to the environment. The brief he received implied that the article should serve as an argument for the Nigerian government to shut down the refinery based on its “energy transition commitments” and “environmental policy.”

Hundeyin further explained that Dialogue Earth is headed by an Oxford professor, Sam Geall, and is funded by several American intelligence fronts, including the Ford Foundation and ClimateWorks, which has been blacklisted in India for funding organizations working against the nation’s interest.

He pointed out the irony that the status quo of Africa’s largest oil producer having no functioning oil refinery was not a problem for Dialogue Earth and its funders. The human poverty caused by exporting raw materials and importing refined fuel, as well as the fact that European refiners regularly blend West African fuel cargoes with toxic waste and sulphur content 200 times the European legal limit, was also not considered bad for the environment by these organizations.

However, Nigeria having a refinery that will reduce West Africa’s import dependency on European refiners and allow the region to control the sulphur content of its own fuels is where Dialogue Earth and its funders draw the line, according to Hundeyin.

The journalist added that some Western interests believe Africans should not exist or have nice things, and that their sole purpose is to enhance the Western experience of the planet.
He stated that his decision to disclose his encounter with the London-based organization was to pass a message that Africans cannot be convinced to campaign for the elongation of their own poverty by “commissioning $500 hack jobs.”