President Bola Tinubu is currently in a crucial meeting with selected members of the organised private sector at the presidential Villa.
Those present at the meeting included Chairman of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, founder and chairman of BUA Group, Alhaji Abdul Samad Rabiu, CEO of Oando, Wale Tinubu and the Chairperson of the United Bank for Africa, Tony Elumelu.
Details later…
Some NNPC Personnel, Oil Traders Own Blending Plant In Malta — Dangote
He also said the quality of products produced at the Dangote Refinery is better than the ones being imported by marketers.
Alhaji Aliko Dangote at Dangote Refinery on Saturday, July 20, 2024
Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote says some staff members of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and oil traders operate a blending plant in Malta, an island country in Europe.
Dangote stated this over the weekend when he received the leadership of the House led by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas and his deputy Benjamin Kalu.
He said the quality of products produced at the Dangote Refinery was far better quality than the ones imported by marketers.
He said the bad fuel imported into the country has damaged many cars. “I still stand by what I said. Go to filling stations, you can check the quality. That is the only way,” he said.
“We know where they blend these things. Some of the NNPC people and some traders have opened a blending plant somewhere off Malta. We all know these areas. We know what they are doing,” Dangote said.
A Cocktail Of Issues
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, faces energy challenges, with all its state-owned refineries non-operational. The country is heavily reliant on imported refined petroleum products, with the state-run NNPC being the major importer of the essential commodities.
Fuel queues are commonplace in the country. Prices of petrol tripled since the removal of subsidy in May 2023, compounding the woes of the citizens who power their vehicles, and generating sets with petrol, no thanks to decades-long epileptic electricity supply.
Last December, Dangote, one of Africa’s leading industrialists, commenced operations at his $20bn facility sited in Lagos with 350,000 barrels a day. The refinery hopes to achieve its full capacity of 650,000 barrels per day by the end of the year. The refinery has begun the supply of diesel and aviation fuel to marketers in the country while petrol supply is expected to commence in August.
Regulatory authorities had questioned the quality of petroleum products produced at the refinery located at the Lekki Free Trade Zone.
During his meeting with federal lawmakers, the billionaire businessman rejected claims that petroleum products from his refinery are substandard. He called on the green chamber to investigate the quality of diesel and petrol at filling stations across the country.
‘Monopoly Claim Untrue’
Dangote also said the claim in some quarters that his group of companies enjoy monopoly is not true.
“If you look at all our operations at Dangote (Group), we add value; we take local raw materials and turn them into products, and we sell.
“We have never consciously or unconsciously stopped anybody from doing the same business that we are doing.
“When we first came into cement production, it was only Lafarge that was operating here in Nigeria…Nobody ever called Lafarge a monopoly,” he said, adding that labelling his group of companies as monopolistic is disheartening.
“Monopoly is when you stop people, you block them through legal means. No, it is a level playing field whereby whatever Dangote was given in cement, for example, other people were given because some of them even got more than us.”
The President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has disclosed that his friend who earlier warned him against investing in Nigeria is now taunting him for ignoring his advice.
Dangote disclosed this in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday just as reports quoted the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority as claiming that diesel from Dangote Refinery is of inferior quality.
“Four years ago, one of my very wealthy friends began to invest his money abroad. I disagreed with him and urged him to rethink his actions in the interest of his country.
“He blamed his action on policy inconsistencies and shenanigans of interest groups.
“That friend has been taunting me in the past few days, saying he warned me and that he has been proven right,” Dangote was quoted to have said.
He said he invested in the refinery to help solve a major issue in the country, wondering why some people were working against him.
He added, “As you probably know, I am 67 years old. In less than three years, I will be 70. I need very little to live the rest of my life. I can’t take the refinery or any other property or asset to my grave. Everything I do is in the interest of my country.’
“We have been facing a fuel crisis since the 70s. This refinery can help in resolving the problem but it does appear some people are uncomfortable that I am in the picture. So I am ready to let go, let the NNPC buy me out, run the refinery.
“This refinery can help in resolving the problem but it does appear some people are uncomfortable that I am in the picture. So I am ready to let go, let the NNPC buy me out, and run the refinery. At least the country will have high-quality products and create jobs.”
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The 650,000 barrel-per-day refinery, which came to life last year after a decade of prolonged construction, cost $19 billion, more than double the initial estimate, promising to help wean Africa’s biggest oil producer off its reliance on fuel from overseas and save up 30 per cent of the total foreign exchange spent on importing goods.
On Sunday, the Federal Government, through the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, said it was expecting fresh reports to confirm the real sulphur content of the diesel produced by the Dangote refinery as the company debunked claims of inferior fuel production.
The NMDPRA spokesman, George Ene-Ita, in an interview with The PUNCH, said the agency had done its job and would not engage in a media fight with anybody over the claims made by the NMDPRA Chief Executive, Farouk Ahmed, that Dangote’s diesel has more sulphur content than imported one.
According to Ene-Ita, the authority has about 15 engineers and scientists embedded in the Dangote refinery, whose fresh report about the refinery’s sulphur content will be out on Monday (today).
Africa’s richest man had earlier narrated how a cabal was blocking his moves to import crude and how it has been difficult to get products, slowing down operations.
But last week, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority said the Nigerian government was yet to license the Dangote refinery to begin operations in the country.
The Chief Executive Officer, NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, disclosed this while speaking with journalists at the state House on Thursday, July 18.
According to Ahmed, the claims of ongoing efforts to scuttle the operations of Dangote refinery due to lack of supply of crude oil by International Oil Companies were not true, adding that the refinery was still at the pre-commissioning stage and has not been licensed yet.
Ahmed added that the diesel product of Dangote was below international standard, a claim which the businessman had refuted.