Non-Functional Govt Refineries Could Make Dangote Monopolistic -Nigerians In Diaspora

A group of Nigerians in Diaspora, under the auspices of the Nigerians in Diaspora Movement, NDM, has expressed fear that failure of government to fix its refineries in the country might encourage Dangote Refinery to be monopolistic in oil distribution in Nigeria.

In a statement by its Global President, Donald Illiya, on Monday in London, the United Kingdom, NDM said the public faceoffs between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, and Dangote refinery is confusing and might be a distraction to Nigerians.

According to the group, the regulatory body encouraged Dangote to be the sole oil distributor in Nigeria by suppressing the state owned local refineries and hold them continually in comatose.

It said it has watched with perplexity the choreographed performance between the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, and Dangote Petrochemicals Refinery, adding that it is meant to keep exploiting Nigerians by making them pay more than reasonable pump prices for refined petroleum products.

“For us, taking in the state of the nation’s economy and the ongoing cost of living crisis, we are of the view that Nigeria’s fate is tied to the state of government-owned refineries, which must be made functional to cause a consequential drop in the prices of fuel and a positive knock-off effect on the cost of living.

“From our review of the murky situations around the refining, importation, supply and pricing of petroleum products, we are constrained to conclude that NNPCL and its officials are aiding Dangote Refinery to emerge as a monopoly by failing to revive domestic refineries while obscuring this fact by being publicly hostile to each other”, the statement said.

The group, while asserting high level of corruption in the energy sector, said despite spending over N17 trillion to rehabilitate the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries from 2002 to 2022, and still spending more, even under the present administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the local refineries have remained comatose.

It expressed concerns that the development is a tool to cover the record of corruption in the NNPCL.

“From when NNPCL Group CEO, Mele Kyari assumed office in July 2019, the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari approved $1.5 billion for the rehabilitation of the Kaduna, Port Harcourt, and Warri refineries. Another N54.66 billion was spent on refinery rehabilitation from January to June 2022.

“More funds have disappeared into the private coffers of those managing NNPCL such that additional monies have been spent even under the current government, bringing the total expenditure on refinery repairs to approximately N17 trillion on turnaround maintenance of the nation’s three refineries between 2002 and 2022,” it said.

The group, therefore, urged President Bola Tinubu to take decisive steps to purge the rot in NNPCL so that domestic refineries can resume production and ward off the dangers of succumbing to a monopoly, which also presents a single point of failure for the nation’s fuel supply.

Click here to watch our video of the week: