It gladdens our minds and hearts that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria – President Bola Ahmed Tinubu finally intervened to save the Dangote Petro-chemicals industries from the agonizing sabotage perpetuated on the Company by some of our directors to starve it of much-needed crude oil for its operations. Likewise, the smear campaign against the company for producing substandard products for domestic consumption should be noticed.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed NNPC to sell crude oil to the Dangote refinery and others.
I commend President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for this intervention. Though it is said, "Better late than never".
Alhaji Aliko Dangote raised concerns over the activities of the Nigerian cartels. The cartels are trying to frustrate him thereby not allowing the government refineries to function close to over four decades.
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), chief executive officer Mr. Farouk Ahmed made this unguided statement and declaration:
- That Dangote refinery was still at the pre-commissioning stage and has not been licensed.
- The diesel produced was below international standards, despite the company boasting to have one of the best laboratories in the whole world. Dangote has been supplying aviation fuel and some of its refined products to the world including America and Europe.
This approximately 20 billion dollars investment is meant to be a game changer for the Nigerian economy. This investment is now struggling to secure the needed crude from the Nigerian locals, forcing him to turn to America, Brazil, and other world suppliers. This crude is bought in US dollars thereby putting more pressure on the demand for the US dollars domestically.
The intervention by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the type of intervention we wish and want our Commander in Chief to timely intervene to save our ailing economy. The President needs to be proactive. This is your government. If things go wrong, it falls on his desk.
The President should intervene more and timely to help save the Presidency from this sort of embarrassment. We want to see our Chief in Command govern proactively with grips on the economy. There are some decisions which are not left to the Ministers to decide. Without the order from above things might not work well in the circumstances of the Nigerian setup. Nigeria is a peculiar country.
I find it compelling to also lend my voice and support to Dangote Petrochemicals and other indigenous industries that are been sabotaged by our own selfish people who have the opportunity of being in power that misuse their official powers. The NNPC on numerous occasions has been accused of corrupt practices. The Nigerian government has negated its promise of not finding and funding its share of the cost of producing the oil. The 20% stake in the company has now been reduced to only 7.2 %.
Dangote Industries will need about 1.7 trillion of crude oil monthly for its operations. Dangote has early mentioned that "we want to buy directly from Nigerian producers of crude"
Through the federal government's forward sale of crude, we have used this to borrow a huge sum of money in dollars which has not been prioritized for industrial and agricultural development but for exotic finances on unnecessary government spending like 165 million naira for each of our lawmakers SUV purchase, renovation of both the presidential and vice presidential buildings, the presidential motorcades, payment of over 80 billion naira for hajj visitation, the lists of these unwarranted expenditure is countless.
Alhaji Aliko Dangote should be commended for spending the sum of about 20 billion dollars on such a project. No known Nigerian businessmen have single-handedly invested such a huge money in our economy. Why are we criticizing him for speaking out to protect his investments? Take for instance the British government will do anything to protect the British airways. They will go all out to protect the interest of British Airways.
Our local businesses should not be undermined. Nigerian government partly relies on Dangote to help spurn the industrialization of the Nigerian economy.
In one of my articles I wrote on the Dangote refinery, I emphasized how the industry will help with the domestic supply and security of petrol and diesel and its by-products, the creation of job security, help reduce our insatiable appetite for forex which should help stabilize our local currency the naira.
The Westerners are laughing at us as we tend to self-undermine and destroy our large domestic investors. No foreign investor will look kindly into this resounding disparaging of Dangote industries. It is not only bad but discouraging as we undermine our own. Dangote has sacrificed its money industrial know-how and energy for Nigerian industrialisation.
Nigerian government should support Dangote industries by creating an enabling atmosphere for his investment to thrive. If he is supported, this will also have a multiplier effect on the Nigerian economy and help the growth of local industries and businesses. Our international partners will have more confidence in us which will spur national developments.
Now that Dangote Petrochemicals can buy crude oil in Naira, it is pertinent that this grace should be passed on to the end users of the products by lowering the pump price of petrol, diesel, and its subsidiary. We want the Presidency to go further in arranging a meeting with Dangote Petrochemicals and their stakeholders to bring the prices of petrol at the pump price down to a reasonable price now that we are about to witness a lowering in the pump price of petrol as crude will now be sold in our local currency the Naira. The windfall from the sale of crude oil in Naira needs to be passed on to the consumers in helping to lower the pump prices.
This intervention should save the Nigeran economy a whooping sum of about 9 billion dollars in foreign exchange which would have been spent on importing petroleum-finished products back to Nigeria.
We don't want to see our Industrialist been made to make decisions that are detrimental to the business they operate as witnessed by Alhaji Aliko Dangote who was about to sell their $19 billion Company to anybody interested because of the frustrations he was made to face by Nigerian Government officials. He was labeled a monopolist. He has also reneged his drive to help with the Nigerian steel industrialization
Alhaji Aliko Dangote has made us proud as Nigerians. I believe this is not the time to undermine and frustrate all his efforts. He should be embraced and appreciated. He needs our accolade. We should encourage him to do more and not short-pay him.
Our indigenous companies should be supported by our government, to make them survive in a very competitive market environment.
Our national assembly should promulgate a law to have our crude oil for internal consumption processed internally. We have the capacity to do this as we have Dangote Petrochemicals and other modular refineries to take up the challenges.
We are still producing less than the expected OPEC quotation for Nigeria. Now that we have 1.6 million barrels per day produced, we should opt this up to about 2.4 million or more barrels per day. Nigeria gets the majority of its foreign exchange earnings through the sale of crude oil.
Oil theft is still ongoing and rampant. The navy and other security apparatus need to opt their game by preventing the crude oil theft being witnessed in Nigerian territorial waters. More sophisticated surveillance equipment should be procured by our security agents. Oil theft should be prosecuted to debar willing saboteurs.
Our local industries not only Dangote should be protected and given an enabling environment to thrive and succeed. We should encourage them to
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