By Our Reporter
Last Tuesday’a promise by Businessman Aliko Dangote that fuel stations would begin selling petrol from his 650,000-barrel-per-day facility “within the next 48 hours” lapsed last Thursday without the product available in any fuel station across the nation, The Authority investigations reveal.
Instead, the businessman blamed the flop on the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), saying NNPCL’s failure to negotiate a price for his petrol and supply same to marketers caused the hitch.
The latest drama began as the sun set on Dangote’s 48-hour promise last Thursday, with Dangote Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer, Anthony Chiejina, saying the company could not fix the price of petrol as it had yet to finalize arrangements with the NNPCL.
“We would like to state that NNPC has not commenced lifting of refined Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol, from our Dangote Petroleum Refinery,” stated the Group spokesman.
Chiejina’s position appeared to contrast with his chairman’s stance a day earlier. On Wednesday, Dangote claimed that his refinery was waiting on the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to fix the price of his petrol.
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Dangote stated, “It is an arrangement which is designed and approved by the Federal Executive Council led by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“As soon as it is finalised, which he (Tinubu) is pushing, once we finish with NNPC, it can be today, it can be tomorrow, we are ready to roll into the market.”
However, in what appeared a disclaimer to Dangote refinery’s claim that NNPCL would fix the price of its petrol and be its sole offtaker, NNPCL in a counter statement said Dangote Refinery was free to sell its products to marketers on willing seller- willing buyer basis.
NNPCL made its position known in a statement by it’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye.
“To set the records straight,” wrote Soneye, “NNPCL wishes to further state as follows: The pricing of petroleum products from any refinery, including the Dangote Refinery Ltd (DRL), is determined by global market forces.“
The recent changes in Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) prices, he stated, “have no impact on the DRL or any other domestic refinery’s access to the Nigerian market.“In fact, if current prices are perceived as high, it presents an ideal opportunity for the refinery to sell its products at lower prices in the Nigerian market.”
Hopes for cheaper petroleum products in Nigeria heightened in May 2023, when, after two failed commissioning targets, the outgoing president, Muhammadu Buhari commissioned the 650,000-barrel-per-day refinery, reportedly the largest single-train refinery in the world.
At the commissioning, Buhari predicted that Dangote would help “our country to achieve self-sufficiency in refined products, and even have some surplus for export.”
He described the event as ” a notable milestone for our economy and a game-changer for the downstream petroleum products market, not only in Nigeria, but the entire African continent.”
Interestingly, over a year after commissioning, Dangote refinery failed to begin production leasing to speculation that certain Western interests were working with some powerful government officials to frustrate the refinery.
Matters came to a head in late June 2024, when the Chief Executuve Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed made a startling revelation that Dangote refinery had not been licenced as, according to him, it was still about 45 percent completed.
Ahmed’s disclosure didn’t sit well with the industrialist. Short of accusing the NMDPRA of sabotage, Dangote hurriedly invited the leadership of the National Assembly and the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) to his refinery.m
