DANGOTE AND THE PETROL PUMP PRICE PRATTLE
By Bala Ibrahim
What started as a fuss is now on the fast lane to furore. Aliko Dangote, the President of Dangote group of Industries, and the richest black man on earth, has the demeanour of a quiet, unassuming, and modest person, despite the quantum of his wealth. His public life is associated with silence and the absence of the showy display of affluence. Sometimes around July 2024, after the Dangote refinery has began operation, for the first time, according to those familiar with the public image of Ali Dangote, the business mogul broke his tradition by going public to complain. Aliko Dangote addressed the press, where he said, his refinery is facing challenges in procuring local crude oil and selling its refined products within Nigeria. He described the huddles as attempts by an oil mafia and interest groups, internal and external, to sabotage his refinery’s operations and prevent it from succeeding. And he pointed his fingers at the leadership of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMPDRA, with the boss, Faruk Ahmed, as the prime suspect.
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After investing twenty billion dollars to set up the Dangote private refinery, in a country that has four public refineries that have consumed billions of dollars on maintenance but remain comatose, Dangote complained that to obtain local crude is becoming frustrating, as a result, he is forced to source it from abroad. Now to sell the refined products to local distributors is also proving impossible, because, the regulatory agency, NMDPRA, has constituted itself into a roadblock. His outcry generated a national debate about the sincerity of the NMDPRA and its boss, Faruk Ahmed.
In what appeared like a show of shame, Faruk Ahmed publicly claimed that the product coming out of Dangote’s refinery is substandard, and that he only wants to create a monopoly, hence the decision to de-market it. Dangote denied the accusation, insisting that his products meet the required quality. He even openly conducted tests, supervised by members of the House of Representatives, and the results showed that the quality of his refined product is better than the imported samples. For years, Nigeria’s four government-owned refineries have been moribund because of such corrupt attitude, and when someone comes privately, with such a huge investment, the corrupt will still remain recalcitrant.
The primary purpose of establishing the NMPDRA was to regulate the technical and commercial aspects of Nigeria’s midstream (transport, processing) and downstream (refining, distribution, marketing) oil and gas sectors, with a view to bringing efficiency in the oil sector. And the ambition of efficiency is to cut wastage and do away with corruption, through the encouragement of competition. We all know that the purpose of competition is to drive improvement through innovations similar to the Dangote style.
Dangote has made it clear that he is not against competition or rivalry, because he believes rivalry, leads to benefits like lower prices, better quality, and more choice for consumers. Yes, rivalry or competition pressures companies to control costs, innovate, and meet consumer needs by ensuring fairness and progress in the markets. But from all indications, Dangote is of the opinion that Faruk Ahmed, the head of the NMPDRA, has a reversed ambition, and the reason is connected to corruption. Because of that, the business mogul has again opened his mouth for the second time, contrary to his adjudged lifestyle of silence.
At a press conference, yesterday Sunday, Dangote accused the same Farouk Ahmed, of
NMPDRA, of heavy corruption, wherein he is paying about $5 million for the secondary school education of his four children in Switzerland, an expenditure he says, is inconsistent with the earnings of a public servant. He didn’t stop there, he is calling for a full investigation and a public explanation, insisting that the matter raises serious questions about accountability and integrity in public office. He said, contrary to his mission of playing the game by the rules of competition, which will give more benefits to the buyer and Nigerians, some people, selfish people, want Nigeria to continue importing fuel, while they selfishly smile to the bank. Despite his demonstrated capacity to flood the country with inexpensive fuel, the NMPDRA is busy issuing import licences for petrol to be imported and sold to the buyer at higher prices. Accordingly, effective from Tuesday, he has slashed the ex-depot price of his petrol to N699 per litre. It is left for Nigerians to now decide.
“Nigerians have a choice to buy better quality fuel at a more affordable price or to buy blended PMS at a higher rate. Importers can continue to lose, so long as Nigerians benefit. The refinery was driven more by legacy than profit, because, I could have invested the 20 billion dollars elsewhere if financial gain were my sole objective.”-Aliko Dangote.
Considering the journey of Nigeria through the rough road of corruption, particularly corruption in the oil sector, alongside the background of the President as an acclaimed accountant, with experience in the oil industry, and his pledge to change the trajectory, methinks, the time has arrived, for the government to do something, beyond the prattle on the pump price of petrol, by looking into the issues of accountability and integrity in public office. After all, the President is the substantive Minister of Petroleum Resources and the one that is overseeing policy and implementation for the Nigerian oil and gas sector.
DANGOTE AND THE PETROL PUMP PRICE PRATTLE
