Former Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola said his administration discounted the price of land allocated to the Dangote Group to secure the refinery project that later became the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in the Lekki Free Zone.
Fashola made the disclosure during his keynote address at the Chartered Institute of Directors (CIoD) Nigeria Women Directors’ Biennial Conference. The event was held earlier this week at the National Arts Theatre in Lagos.
He said the decision followed advice from then Lagos State Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Mrs. Olusola Oworu. She argued that attracting the investment would generate greater long-term economic benefits than insisting on the state’s fixed land pricing.
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Fashola recalled that after the Dangote Group selected Lagos as the preferred location for the refinery, negotiations stalled over the cost of the land. Lagos operated a fixed-rate pricing system for land under its various allocation schemes.
But the company considered the asking price too high.
“Look, Governor, you have 16,000 hectares of land. The Chinese are in 3,000 hectares. We have barely built 200. Thirteen thousand is waiting for investors. You have now found an investor who wants to take 2,000 hectares and build a refinery of $19 billion and you are quibbling over the cost of the land.
Offer the land at a discount.
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Once it comes in, others will follow. And then you can make money from your land,” Fashola quoted her as telling the State Executive Council.
That was a thinking decision.
“And the whole of council then looked to me and I surrendered,” Fashola said, adding that her intervention changed the course of the deliberations.
“Ineffectiveness is not a gender thing; it is a human thing,” he said while arguing that leadership should be judged by competence rather than gender. Fashola used the episode to reinforce his broader argument that women in leadership should be assessed on competence, preparation and impact rather than representation alone.
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Women’s influence in boardrooms
The conference also featured calls for organisations to move beyond increasing women’s representation on boards. Speakers said the focus should shift to giving women greater influence over strategic decision-making.
The institute’s First Vice President, Mrs. Amina Oyagbola, said although more women now serve on corporate boards and lead institutions across the public and private sectors, they remain underrepresented in board chair and executive leadership positions where key decisions are made. She urged organisations to strengthen mentorship and sponsorship programmes to build stronger leadership pipelines for women.
The organization’s President and Chairman of the Governing Council, Otunba Adetunji Oyebanji, said board appointments should be driven by competence, skills and integrity rather than traditional leadership pathways that have historically limited women’s access to top positions. He added that increasing women’s influence in boardrooms is becoming more important as organisations manage economic uncertainty and technological disruption.