Dangote offers to sell refinery to NNPC to address monopoly allegations
Aliko Dangote, President of Dangote Group, expressed his willingness to sell the Dangote Refinery to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL).
This offer comes as a response to ongoing allegations of monopoly in the industry.
He revealed this in an exclusive interview with Premium Times on Sunday,
Dangote addressed the monopoly concerns directly, stating, “If the NNPCL takes over the refinery, the allegations of monopoly would no longer be valid. Let them (NNPCL) buy me out and run the refinery the best way they can. They have labeled me a monopolist. That’s an incorrect and unfair allegation, but it’s OK. If they buy me out, at least, their so-called monopolist would be out of the way.”
This development follows remarks from Farouk Ahmed, CEO of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, who claimed that the Dangote Refinery had requested the regulator to halt import licenses for other marketers.
Ahmed argued that such a move would not be beneficial for the nation’s energy security or market competitiveness.
“We cannot rely heavily on one refinery to feed the nation because Dangote is requesting that we should suspend or stop importation of all petroleum products, especially AGO, and direct all marketers to the refinery. That is not good for the nation in terms of energy security. And that is not good for the market because of monopoly,” Ahmed stated.
Ahmed also raised concerns about the quality of the refinery’s products, noting, “In terms of quality, currently the AGO quality in terms of sulfur is the lowest as far as the West African requirement of 50 ppm is concerned. Dangote refinery and some modular refineries, like Waltersmith refinery and Aradel refinery, are producing between 650 to 1,200 ppm. So, in terms of quality, their product is much more inferior to the imported quality.”
“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. 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. At least the country will have high-quality products and create jobs.”
The Dangote Refinery, which began operations last year, has a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day and aims to reduce Nigeria’s dependency on foreign fuel imports while conserving foreign exchange.
