The Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, while speaking with Premium Times, recently, countered allegations that he was trying to be a monopoly in the industry.
Excerpts of key points from the interview:
On how he feels about the twist in government’s reaction to his investment in the petroleum sector in contrast to the high praises he’d received in the past:
He said, “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.
On whether he regrets sinking such a mammoth investment in Nigeria…
“Four years ago, one of my very wealthy friends began to invest his money abroad. I disagreed with him and urged him to rethink his action in the interest of his country. He blamed his action on policy inconsistencies and shenanigans of interest groups. That friend has been taunting me in the past few days, saying he warned me and that he has been proven right,” he said.
On being labelled a monolith who wants to monopolise the industry…
Dangote said, “Let them buy me out and run the refinery the best way they can. They have labelled me a monopolist. That’s an incorrect and unfair allegation, but it is okay. If they buy me out, at least, their so-called monopolist would be out of the way.
“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.”
On the extent he is ready to go to disprove allegations of being a monopolist…
“You know, about doing a new business which we announced, that is, steel. Actually, our board has decided that we shouldn’t do the steel because if we do the steel business, we will be called all sorts of names like monopoly. And then also, imports will be encouraged.”
On allegations that Dangote Refinery products are inferior in quality to the ones imported into the country due to high sulphur content, the company in a statement said:
“The Chairman of the House Committee on Downstream, Ikenga Ugochinyere, and Chairman of the House Committee on Midstream, Okojie Odianosen, oversaw the collection of samples from the Mild Hydro Cracking (MHC) unit of Dangote refinery for testing of all the samples.
“Lab tests revealed that Dangote’s diesel had a sulphur content of 87.6 ppm (parts per million), whereas the other two samples showed sulphur levels exceeding 1800 ppm and 2000 ppm respectively.
“Dangote emphasised that these findings debunked claims made by Farouk Ahmed, CEO of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Authority, who recently asserted that imported diesel surpasses domestically refined products. Ahmed had alleged that Dangote refinery and other modular refineries like Waltersmith and Aradel produced diesel with sulphur content ranging from 650 to 1200 ppm—a statement criticised by many Nigerians as a tactic to favour imported products over local ones.”
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