Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has stated that those profiting from the lucrative fuel importation business will undoubtedly attempt to thwart the operations of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
Obasanjo’s assertion follows strong allegations by Dangote Group President Alhaji Aliko Dangote, who accused certain ‘mafias’ of actively working to hinder the $20 billion refinery.
“If Aliko’s investment in a refinery goes well, it should encourage Nigerians and non-Nigerians to invest in Nigeria.
“If those who are selling or supplying refined products for Nigeria feel that they will lose the lucrative opportunity, they will also make every effort to frustrate him,” Obasanjo stated in an interview with the Financial Times.
It was reported on Monday that the multi-billion-dollar refinery and other local refineries had not yet bought crude oil in naira as per President Bola Tinubu’s directive to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
Officials of the Dangote Group recently expressed concern that International Oil Companies (IOC) were frustrating the refinery by either refusing to sell crude oil to them or selling it at a premium of up to $4 above the regular price.
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) was accused of intentionally granting licenses to individuals to import poor-quality fuel.
The regulatory body refuted the accusations, stating that Dangote diesel was lower quality than imported fuel.
Farouk Ahmed, Chief Executive of the NMDPRA, also stated that the country would continue importing fuel to prevent the Dangote Group from establishing a monopoly.
The ex-president also criticised President Bola Tinubu’s approach to eliminating fuel subsidies, suggesting that the current government should have taken into account the potential hardship caused by the removal of the subsidy and devised ways to alleviate it.
“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done. Not just wake up one morning and say you removed the subsidy. Because of inflation, the subsidy that we have removed is not gone. It has come back,” He stressed.