By Dipo Olowookere
Africa’s richest man, Mr Aliko Dangote, has expressed frustration at the refusal of petroleum marketers to lift premium motor spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol, from his $20 million refinery in Lagos.
In September 2024, the Dangote Refinery, which has the capacity to refine 650,000 million barrels of crude oil per day, commenced the production of petrol.
Initially, the product was exclusively sold to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, but this month, the federal government allowed independent marketers to buy directly from the company.
Speaking in Abuja on Tuesday after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu, the business mogul said his refinery has about 500 million litres of petrol lying fallow, noting that he can produce about 30 million litres per day.
“We have enough supply of crude; we can produce much more than 30 million litres every day. At full capacity, we can even supply whatever is being consumed.
“But what I estimated as consumption, which I believe may be about 30, 32 million that one we can even start producing by next week.
“It is not an issue because, as we speak today, we have 500 million litres in our tanks.
“So, 500 million litres in our tanks even if there’s no production from anybody or no imports.
“This will take the country more than 12 days, you know, with no imports, with no production, nothing.
“So, we are very ready. We are more than ready. And you know, I’m also putting my name on the line by giving Mr President my word that, yes, we will be able to supply the market a minimum of 30 million litres per day, and we’ll be ramping up. We are ready. We’re more than ready,” he told newsmen after the meeting to deliberate on the pricing of the product in the country.
Mr Dangote lamented that the action of the fuel marketers was making him lose money since “I am not in the business of retail. If I’m in the business of retail then you hold me responsible.”
“I don’t know whether you understand what it takes to keep half a billion litres inside our tank. It’s costing me money every day. If I can collect the naira, I can charge somebody 32 per cent in interest.
“So right now, that’s what I’m losing. And you are talking about 500 million, you know, I mean, we don’t print money. But the issue is that if they come and collect then you will not see any queues in the filling stations,” he stated.
Adedapo Adesanya