…says refinery didn’t enjoy incentives from FG, Lagos State Government
Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man and the President of the Dangote Group, has suggested his group will be suspending the plans to establish a steel plant in the country following the recent monopoly accusation levied against him by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
Dangote made this known Saturday while addressing the media on the remark made by an NMDPRA official with regard to the quality of products from the Dangote Refinery complex.
“The good thing is that the majority of the population are with us. So, we are not discouraged. Our own board has decided that we should not do the steel business. If we do it, we will be called all sorts of names like monopoly. Also, import will be encouraged,” Dangote said.
He added: “Let other Nigerians also go and do it, because we are not the only Nigerians here, there are even some Nigerians with even more cash. They should bring in that money from Dubai and from other parts of the world to come and invest in our own fatherland.
“Whatever Dangote was given in cement for instance, others were also given. In fact, some of them were given more than us. In the refinery, we did not collect a single incentive from the Federal Government of Nigeria, or from the Lagos State Government. Lagos State gave us a good deal, but we paid $100 million for the land. It was not a free land, we paid for it.”
The nation’s oil and gas industry was embroiled in controversy last week when Farouk Ahmed, the chief executive officer of NMDPRA remarked that the nation could not rely on the Dangote Refinery Complex for its energy needs, saying that was not good for the nation’s energy security.
He further said the Dangote Refinery complex was yet to be licensed as it is at the pre-commissioning state, adding the products from the complex are inferior to the ones imported into the country.
“The claims by some media outlets that we wanted to scuttle the Dangote Refinery is not true. Dangote Refinery is still at the pre-commissioning stage. We haven’t licensed it yet. The complex is at about 45 percent completion, and yet to be licensed,” Farouk said.
“We cannot rely heavily on one refinery to feed the nation, because Dangote is requesting that we should suspend or stop importation of all petroleum products, especially AGO and direct all marketers to the refinery. That is not good for the nation in terms of energy security, and that is not good for the market, because of monopoly.
“In terms of quality, currently the AGO quality in terms of sulphur is the lowest as far as the West African requirement of 50 ppm. Dangote refinery and some modular refineries, like Waltersmith refinery and Aradel refinery, are producing between 650 to 1,200ppm. So, in terms of quality, their product is much more inferior to the imported quality,” he said.
However, a laboratory test of products from Dangote Refinery complex less that 24 hours after Farouk Ahmed’s allegation of inferior quality proved otherwise.
“When we were coming here, the His Excellency, Speaker, said we should wet since we have media observers to pick up samples from two filling stations and when we get to our plant, they will pick up another sample to check. The result has actually come out and I’m going to share the same results with you.
“Total Petrol Station’s result showed 1800ppm, and Matrix’s result was 2653ppm. Flashpoint, Matrix was 61, which is below the minimum. The minimum is 66. Total’s flashpoint was 26. Dangote’s flashpoint is 96,” Dangote added.
Nigeria imported N84.08 billion worth of steel related products at the end of the first quarter of 2024, representing 0.67 percent of the nation’s imports during that quarter.
Steel and related products have emerged as one of the sources of pressure on Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings as the country continues importation decades after launching the Ajaokuta Steel Complex in Kogi State.
The suspension of the investment in steel production by the Dangote Group comes at a time Nigeria is searching for ways to improve liquidity in the foreign exchange market by boosting domestic production of imported products that could be produced locally.
