Dangote Urges Action: 'Hold NNPC, Marketers Responsible for Fuel Queues'"
The Chairman of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has called on the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and independent petroleum marketers to begin loading petrol from his refinery to distribute across the country. He made this statement on Tuesday after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu and the Crude Oil Implementation Committee on the sale of crude oil and refined products in local currency in Abuja.
Dangote emphasized that he is not involved in retail operations and has no trucks to distribute petrol himself, urging the marketers and NNPC to take responsibility for the distribution.
“We are producers, and I own a refinery. Retailing is not my business. If I were in the retail sector, you could hold me accountable,” he explained. “What I’m saying is that retailers need to come forward and pick up the petrol. If they don’t, there’s nothing more I can do.”
Dangote expressed concern that the refinery is losing revenue because the NNPC and marketers continue to import petroleum products rather than sourcing them locally from his refinery, which currently has about 500 million litres of petrol stored in its tanks.
“I expect either NNPC or the marketers to stop importing and come to collect from us. We have everything they need, and as soon as they pick up, we will keep pumping more,” he said.
He highlighted the financial burden of storing such a large volume of fuel, explaining:
“Keeping half a billion litres in storage is costly. If I were able to convert the value into Naira and lend it, I could earn 32% interest. This is the financial loss I’m incurring daily, just holding 500 million litres in stock.”
Dangote added that if the marketers collected fuel from his refinery, the persistent queues at filling stations would disappear.
“We are not in the retail business and don’t own trucks for distribution. Our role is to produce and load from the refinery. The marketers and NNPC have been distributing imported products; if they claim to be bringing in 55 million liters daily, I see no reason why they can’t collect from us and distribute locally,” he concluded.
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