Endless Lies against Dangote’s Petrol~By Yemi Adebowale
The latest in the series of lies against the petrol produced by the
Dangote Refinery in Lagos is that imported petrol can be sold cheaper to Nigerians than locally produced one. The cabal responsible for petrol importation is leading this argument; of course, backed by the leadership of NNPCL, the main importer of petrol. These same people disabled the four government-owned refineries for over 24 years now. The cabal and NNPCL are currently using the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) and the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) to hinder the buying of Dangote’s petrol.
The new war against Dangote Refinery started when the firm announced it would sell petrol at N960 per liter for ship sales and N990 per liter for truck sales, following the pricing controversy triggered by agents of the petrol importation cabal. They had claimed that the refinery’s fuel prices were significantly higher than those of other suppliers. But IPMAN and PETROAN failed to tell Nigerians that post-deregulation, NNPCL was selling petrol to them at N990 per litre. As at press time, the price had even gone up to over N1000 per litre. The four other firms granted license to import are selling to the marketers at a much higher price. Imported petrol is evidently not cheaper.
Yes, I agree that the price of Dangote’s petrol is high but to say that imported petrol can be sold cheaper to Nigerians is outright falsehood. NNPCL currently imports and it is selling to these marketers at a higher price than what Dangote proposed. IPMAN and PETROAN subsequently sell to Nigerian consumers at between N1100 and N1300 per litre, depending on the part of the country.
The price of Dangote’s petrol will clearly come down, particularly when its starts using 100% domestic crude. Price will come down when production gets to its peak. It will come down when it starts producing optimally. So, the Tinubu government must support this refinery to provide affordable domestically-refined petroleum products in Nigeria. Government in decent climes protect local industries. Local production creates jobs for local people and boosts the economy.
But the petrol importation cabal care less. They care less about jobs for our people. The cabal is desperate to continue the importation of petrol. They want to continue to plunder Nigeria’s dwindling forex. Last year, this country spent 60 percent of its forex earnings on importation of petroleum products. They are masters of forex round-tripping. This is why our Naira is in shreds. They care less about the Nigerian economy. The petrol cabal want to kill Dangote refinery just as they killed the four government-owned refineries. They want Nigeria to continue exporting jobs. They want to keep their foreign refineries working. This is why they want Dangote plant dead.
The Tinubu government must push aside all the lies by the cabal; resist its pressure and halt importation of petroleum products in the interest of the Nigerian economy. It must end swiftly if President Tinubu is truly interested in the progress of this country as he claims.
My message to those saying Dangote Refinery will become a monopoly is very simple: The cabal should invest in refineries in Nigeria and compete with him. They already own some abroad. IPMAN and PETROAN should go and invest in modular refineries which can become operational within six months. Our hopeless NNPCL has four refineries that can be revamped to compete with Dangote. They should revamp them. This is how to prevent monopoly. I don’t want to believe that the petrol importation cabal is stronger than our President. Tinubu must end the importation of petroleum products now.
