Nigerian Students Back Dangote Refinery

Students across tertiary institutions in the country under the aegis of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) have passed a vote of confidence on the Dangote Refinery describing the recent demarketing of the world’s largest single-train refinery by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) as the greatest disservice to the nation’s economy.

The students’ position came amidst alleged efforts by the management of the NNPCL to induce the student body’s leadership with $250,000 to dissuade it from going ahead to declare support for Dangote Refinery in the current spat between the refinery and NNPCL.

Speaking after a tour of the Refinery facility yesterday in Lagos, leaders of the student body comprising of those from Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education, said it would take an enemy of Nigeria to rubbish the gigantic project that would stop the importation of fuel once and for all and save the nation of the scarce forex.

The NANS Senate President, Akinteye Babatunde Afiz addressing the management of the Dangote Refinery said they had the mandate of Nigerian Students to come and assess the situation of the refinery having been told that the refinery was uncompleted and inferior in all standards.

He said: we had a meeting on the situation in the country vis a vis the uncertainty in the oil and gas industry, especially the current fuel scarcity and we resolved to visit the Dangote refinery to see things for ourselves, Having gone around the facility, our heart melted at the humongous size of the refinery.

“We are speaking the minds of all Nigerian students that the government should direct all marketers to patronize the Dangote refinery and ease the current fuel hardship. If anyone wants to compete with Dangote let them go and build their own. The government has four refineries and they are not working yet they don’t want the one that is available to sell. We will not accept that.

“Dangote Refinery has come to stay. We have discovered that all claims being bandied around are false. Our impression is that they never expected the refinery to stand, and that is why they are against you. But we are pledging our resolve to stand by you.

“We have seen the refinery laboratory and we could see that it is world-class. We can’t allow this type of project that holds great potential for Nigeria’s economy to go down through some people’s disdain for the success of Alhaji Aliko Dangote.” He then urged the government to do all possible to support Dangote Refinery and protect it from saboteurs.

Earlier, the Vice-President of Dangote Industries Limited, Devakumar Edwin while welcoming the student leaders to the Refinery thanked them for their concern for the facility and their resolve to stand for the truth by rejecting the monetary inducement.

He told the students that President Tinubu had intervened and commended the President for the directive for crude to be sold to Dangote Refinery in Naira currency, saying it is a good development for all Nigerians.

Edwin said the concern of the students was well placed as all Nigerians should be worried indeed because about 90 per cent of Nigeria’s forex goes into importation of fuel and that Dangote Refinery could help solve the problem as 43 per cent of its capacity production could satisfy domestic demand while the remaining will be exported to generate more forex into the country.

Wondering why anyone would want to frustrate the refinery, Edwin noted “So much has been spent on the government refineries and there was nothing to show for it as they remained moribund.

“What we want to do in Refinery, we have done it other businesses, Nigeria used to be the biggest importer of Sugar, we came in and changed the narrative. We led the backward integration scheme of the federal government, and we now produce sugar locally for domestic consumption and others have joined us. We did the same in Cement by opening up a production plant and today Nigeria exports cement to other countries.

“In a business, no one was interested in investing in, Dangote delved into it determined to ensure Nigeria no longer imports fuel, invested massively and came up with the world’s largest single train refinery.  He said he would not take his money to Dubai or Swiss banks as others are doing, he decided to invest at home and now they are saying he wants to create a monopoly.

“We didn’t ask for any favour other than that we wanted to buy crude to produce, first, they said there was no crude, and later they said we would have to pay some dollars above the prevailing crude market price. And this is a global market where you can track crude prices anytime. We resorted to buying crude from Brazil and the United States. Later they said we should not be announcing the price of the products.

“Even the US, the leading proponent of of free market economy protects its local industries by imposing huge duties on imports just to protect local industries. This is a man that Saudi Aramco once approached to come and cite his refinery in Saudi Arabia, promising a steady supply of crude. Abu Dhabi also invited him to do the same on their soil but he rejected insisting he would build at home, now he did that and a facility that is supposed to add value to Nigeria’s economy is being frustrated.”

The Dangote Industries boss said the company would continue to focus on its business strategy which is to add value to Nigeria’s economy through investments and job creation for the teeming Nigerian masses.