Fuel queue era gone forever – Dangote

The era of fuel queues is gone forever in Nigeria, according to Africa’s richest man and the Chairman of the Dangote Refineries, Aliko Dangote.

Addressing State House correspondents after a meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Friday, Dangote said for the first time, the refinery is supplying to Europe and US, adding that they had written to Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), the midstream regulator, to notify it of refinery’s capacity to supply 50 million litres of petrol to Nigerians every day.

Dangote, who said his discussion with the President centered on the economy, the environment and other sectors, noted that such discussion was a normal thing between him and the President, as they do from time to time.

He said, “In Nigeria, we have been having fuel queues since 1972 and you know, we have actually removed those queues. It’s not about actually relying on imports. For the first time, we’re actually suppliers to Europe and US. Today, we have written to NMDPRA, the midstream regulator, and we have confirmed to him that we can supply 50 million litres every day.

“You now know that there won’t be queues at all; because I can tell you right now, even while we’re servicing the refineries, there were no queues. So the question of getting queues is history. It will never, ever happen by the grace of God, no more.”

The business mogul also said even neighboring countries won’t have queues, “because they can buy from us, but official purchase. By February, we’ll be able to supply about 15 to 20 million liters more than the consumption of Nigeria. So we still have to export.”

He promised that going forward, by 2028 “we are going to take this refinery to the largest refinery in the world we’re going to beat Reliance. Reliance is 1.25 million barrels per day, we will be at 1.4 million barrels per day. We have already launched that we have signed, and we’re going to start piling for the refinery by January, before January ending, and it will be delivered on time.”

On the issue of fertilizer, Dangote said, “we want to use our own fertilizer company here in Nigeria to supply the entire African continent. We’re going to have urea production of about 12 million tons. 12 million tons will put us at the largest company producing urea, bigger than Russia and bigger than Qatar. So we are doing quite a lot. We are trying to also make sure that we are the gateway to investment in Nigeria and Africa.”

Dangote said the prices of petroleum products had been on a downward slope, because they had to compete with imports.

“But luckily for us, the smuggling has reduced, not totally. There are still quite a lot of smuggling, you know, because the price we have in Nigeria is about 55% with the price of our neighboring countries.

“So it doesn’t matter how you police the borders, people will still smuggle because there’s so much money to be made. You know, they are selling at almost 1500, 1600 but we’re selling at about 800 and something. So it is bound to happen. But petroleum products, both diesel and gasoline, which is PMS, will continue to be sold in the market at a very reasonable price. We are not here to make our 20 billion back quickly, it’s a long term investment.”

Dangote said the legacy he wants to leave behind is to see that whatever Nigeria needs, we will be part of that delivery, “Is it power? Even now with the company, we’re launching our vision next week, and we will, put on a lot of things, because we’re thinking of what to do next. For example, in Nigeria, we have a lot of solid minerals, but the only thing that is stopping us from using these solid minerals is actually the ports.”

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