The ongoing face-off between Alhaji Aliko Dangote and regulatory authorities in the Nigerian Oil and Gas sector has refused to die down despite a gag order by the House of Representatives Joint committee on petroleum resources (downstream and midstream).
Dangote, while speaking at the House of Representatives on Monday, had thrown a bombshell that some personnel of NNPC Ltd, oil traders and terminals had opened a blending plant in Malta.
“Some of the NNPC people and some traders have opened a blending plant somewhere off Malta. We all know these areas. We know what they are doing,” Mr Dangote said, according to reports.
Reacting, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, on Tuesday said he does not own or operate any business directly or by proxy anywhere in the world except a local mini Agric venture.
Kyari, in a statement posted on his X handle on Tuesday, said he is not aware of any employee of the NNPC that owns or operates a blending plant in Malta or anywhere else in the world.
“I am inundated by enquiries from family members, friends and associates on the public declaration by the President of Dangote Group that some NNPC workers have established a blending plant in Malta, thereby impeding procurements from local production of petroleum products.
“To clarify the allegations regarding the blending plant, I do not own or operate any business directly or by proxy anywhere in the world except a local mini Agric venture. Neither am I aware of any employee of the NNPC that owns or operates a blending plant in Malta or anywhere else in the world,” Mr Kyari said.
He explained that a blending plant in Malta or any part of the world does not influence NNPC’s business operations and strategic actions.
“For further assurance, our compliance sanction grid shall apply to any NNPC employee who is established to be involved in doing so if availed, and I strongly recommend that such individuals be declared public and be made known to relevant government security agencies for necessary actions given the grave implications for national energy security,” he said.
Meanwhile, support has risen for Dangote from many quarters.
The President, African Development Bank Group, Akinwumi Adesina on Tuesday called on the federal government to do all it can to protect local industries, such as the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Plant.
According to a statement on Tuesday via X, Adesina expressed his shock at the controversy surrounding Dangote’s operations, warning that it is “creating bad waves for Nigeria globally.”
Adesina argued that monopolies often arise in industries with high entry barriers or capital costs, citing railways and large-scale refineries as examples.
He was quoted as saying, “Monopoly often exists where there are high barriers to entry or high capital costs. How many individuals or companies can do railways? How many can do refineries of the scale of Dangote Refineries? In a nation that has been importing refined petroleum products for several decades, the abnormality simply became very normal.”
The AfDB President emphasised the significant investment made by Dangote, stating, “No smart investor would make a $19.5 billion investment and want it to be undermined by importers.”
He highlighted manufacturing challenges in Nigeria, describing the business environment as fraught with policy uncertainties and reversals.
“To manufacture is extremely expensive and risky. This is even more so in Nigeria, given the very challenging business and economic environment, fraught with policy uncertainties and policy reversals, and where the self-defeating default mode of “simply import it” is always so easily rationalized and chorused to solve any problem,” he said.
Addressing concerns about anti-competitive practices, Adesina said, “Competition is good for everyone. But are Dangote refineries anti-competitive? What is the evidence? Has Dangote Refineries prevented any other company from setting up refineries? Why have others not done so? How come they have not done so for several decades?
“Was it Dangote that held them back? But Dangote refineries surely cannot be asked to ‘compete’ with importers of petroleum products. That is not competition. Let the importers set up local refineries and compete by refining in Nigeria. That is fair and justified competition.”
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Adesina stressed the broader economic implications of the refinery, stating, “We cannot and must not undermine, disparage or kill local industries, talk less of one that is of this scale — a jewel of industrialisation in Nigeria. It is more than simply delivering the cheapest product to the market.
“It is about domestic supply security, driving (and yes, protecting) globally competitive industries, maximising forward and backward linkages in the local economy, job creation, reducing forex expenses and shoring up the Naira. We must not be myopic.
“This whole disparaging of Dangote is uncalled for. It is self-defeating. And it is very bad for Nigeria. Who will want to come and invest in a country that disparages and undermines its own largest investor? Investing is tough. Pettiness is easy. It sadly sends a signal that the price for sacrificing for Nigeria is to get sacrificed.”
In a related development, the house of representatives has asked the federal government to suspend Farouk Ahmed, chief executive officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), over “unguarded comments”.
The lower legislative chamber passed the resolution during plenary session on Tuesday following the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by Esosa Iyawe from Edo.
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The motion was titled ‘Urgent Need to Address the Outrage Resulting from Unguarded Comments by the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Authority’.
Moving the motion, Iyawe described Ahmed’s statement as “careless,” as well as “unprofessional and unpatriotic” in the wake of calls for protest against the federal government.
Iyawe said Ahmed made the statement without conducting any prior investigation.
The lawmaker said the “unguarded statement” by the NMDPRA CEO has “sparked outrage from Nigerians who tagged his undermining of local refineries and insistence on the continued importation of fuel an act of economic sabotage, as the imported products have been shown to contain high levels of dangerous compounds”.
The motion was adopted when it was put to a voice vote by Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house.
Consequently, the lower chamber asked the federal government to suspend the NMDPRA CEO pending the conclusion of the investigations into the claims.
