Dangote’s New Level Battle, by Pius Mordi

For a man touted to enjoy serial support and concessions from whatever government in power for his business ventures, the statement credited to Farouk Ahmed, chief executive of Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), who made his unprompted verdict on the multi-billion dollars Dangote Refineries astounded Nigerians by the brutal words used to describe the company’s products. The refined products of Dangote Refineries, Ahmed said, are substandard and do not compare with the quality of imported ones. Against the backdrop of concerns that international oil companies and the NNPCL were seemingly trying to scuttle the
refinery’s readiness to begin production and end the nightmare associated with importation of refined products into Nigeria, Ahmed claimed the refinery was only 45 percent completed. To boot, he claimed the refinery is yet to be licensed, although he failed to classify the nature of license yet to be secured.

What stood out in the NMDPRA chief’s claim is the basis for his assertion – energy security and quality. None was logical. To him, the prospect of sourcing all refined products locally does not meet his definition of energy security. The only way that can be guaranteed is importing products refined outside Nigeria’s shores. And against all known conventions where national governments regal in the ability of local manufacturers to roll out products that can compete with their foreign peers and proactively promote and protect them, Ahmed brazenly de-marketed Dangote Refineries’ products albeit without discernible proof.

Make no mistake about it, Ahmed could not have made his daring claims on his own accord. He chose to be the face and voice of the cartel that has held Nigeria’s oil industry hostage. Former President Muhammadu Buhari could not resist the allure of having his imprimatur to the refinery labelled as the final solution to Nigeria’s scandalous energy dependency when in the twilight of his administration, he chose to commission the project when it was not ready to even begin test run. His successor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was not ready to miss the glamour and proceeded to again commission the refinery ahead of its truly coming on stream.

Aliko Dangote always cozied up with whoever emerged President. He enjoyed tremendous support in the course of executing the project, a factor that played a huge role in his decision to go ahead with the gigantic project. Ahmed’s claim that the refinery is only 45 percent completed while also saying the diesel refined therefrom is of low grade is ambiguous. That means its already producing at 45 percent completion. That this is coming after Aliko Dangote himself complained that NNPCL and the IOCs are starving his refinery of crude supply makes Ahmed’s claim intriguing.

Nigeria’s crude oil is reputed to be of low sulphur content. They are high value, low sulfur content, light crude oils that attract premium prices in the same class as Britain’s North Sea Brent in international market. If NMDPRA is desirous of having quality refined products brought into the country, what blend is more valuable than that produced in our shores?

The ambience for NMDPRA’s claims against Dangote and his refinery just do not add up. What went wrong? Has government’s poster boy of official support for indigenous entrepreneurship lost his golden boy tag? Ahmed is not fickle. He knew the implications of his decision to undermine the Dangote Refinery which every Nigerian now sees as a national treasure. What could have driven the open rebuke for Dangote?

Nigeria’s oil industry is shrouded in opaque deals. As governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele had gleefully proclaimed during the premature commissioning of the complex on May 22, 2023 that CBN partnered with the Dangote Group to ensure the successful completion of the project by providing about N125 billion for domestic currency requirements while also ensuring the availability of foreign exchange to pay for imported equipment. Remarkably, Emefiele claimed that even before production began, “we have it on good authority that the Dangote Group has paid off some portion of these commercial loans even before in this commissioning today”.

Yet, in June this year, Dangote announced that federal government’s equity in the project had been doing graded to 7.2 percent. “The agreement we had with the NNPC was actually 20 percent, but they didn’t pay the balance of the money as at last year. Then we gave them another extension up till June this year, but they later said they would remain with what they have already paid, which is 7.2 percent”, he explained.

With an air of regret, Dangote seems to be having a rethink on the project. “We didn’t know the magnitude of what we were getting into. That was why I said in a recent interview that if I knew what I was getting into, I wouldn’t have started it at all.

“But we are in the middle of the sea, and so no going back. If we stop, that means we would sink and the only option is just to continue, no matter how tired you are. I didn’t want to write a book, but for the first time I am going to write a book about my experience with project execution in Africa.” All these came at the time he complained of what he saw as an orchestrated plan to frustrate the take off of the refinery. Something is wrong somewhere. But given the fact there is no transparency in the way and manner the federal government runs the oil industry through the NNPCL, everything is in the realm of speculation. Despite, whatever may be hidden from the public, Nigerians have adopted Dangote Refinery as a national treasure. If Dangote is frustrated to the point where he is forced to sell the refinery to the federal government, it will be the death to any dream of local refining of crude oil. The cartel would have finally and effectively captured nit just the oil industry but the government too.

If the Tinubu administration wants Nigerians to believe that what is happening is normal transactions, the president as the Minister of Petroleum Resources should start restoring hope by removing Farouk Ahmed and all the chief executives that have been holding sway in all the subsidiaries from Buhari’s days.

Postscript
*Obaseki as the benchmark for new minimum wage*
I am sure organised labour knows that but for Godwin Obaseki who unilaterally decided to pay Edo State Civil servants N70,000 minimum wage and actually went ahead to pay, President Bola Tinubu would not have approved the amount he settled for. Although included in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) as an oil producing state, it is one of the fringe producers.
If Obaseki could pay N70,000 without any fuss, it would have been difficult for Aso Rock to justify going for any thing less.
The N62,000 President Tinubu’s committee had insisted on during its negotiation with Labour would have been it.
As the Nigerian Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress toast to their ‘achievement’, they should credit Governor Obaseki who built the platform for them to hit the N70,000 mark.