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By Tracy Moses
The Dangote Refinery has reaffirmed that its plan to distribute free fuel will go on as scheduled, dismissing recent objections raised by some oil and gas associations as deliberate attempts to derail the initiative.
In a statement issued on Sunday nigh, the refinery’s management described the pushback as a “calculated campaign of economic sabotage” driven by vested interests who feel threatened by the project’s potential impact.
According to the statement, “It is evident that their threats and actions are not founded on genuine concerns about workers’ rights or unionisation, but rather a coordinated effort to protect entrenched interests at the expense of progress.”
The refinery recalled that in January 2022, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) disclosed that one of the members of the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) supplied petrol with methanol content exceeding 15 percent. This was far above acceptable standards and resulted in extensive damage to thousands of vehicle engines nationwide. Despite the scale of the incident, the refinery noted, no transparent government inquiry or independent investigation was ever conducted.
Dangote Refinery further stressed that such practices are exactly what some marketers appear to be defending. The refinery, it said, has positioned Nigeria as a leading source of affordable petrol for the West African subregion, even though it imports more than 60 percent of the crude oil it processes. Despite this, it still offers fuel at prices below international benchmarks across sub-Saharan Africa.
The statement also alleged that certain DAPPMAN members are more invested in fuel importation and profiteering through round-tripping.
“There are instances where petrol produced by Dangote Refinery is exported to Togo, only to be re-imported into Nigeria and sold at a markup,” the management revealed, stressing that such practices expose the weaknesses in claims that DAPPMAN is the country’s key petrol supplier