Your Advice Insensitive, Not Thoughtful – Oil Marketers Blast Otedola

Your Advice Insensitive, Not Thoughtful – Oil Marketers Blast Otedola
PETROAN says divesting isn’t feasible after billions invested nationwide.
Gillis-Harry insists facilities remain vital for fuel distribution.

Oil marketers in Nigeria have dismissed the recent call by billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola, urging them to sell off their investments in the downstream oil sector.

Speaking on Tuesday during Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, the National President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), Billy Gillis-Harry, described Otedola’s comments as insensitive and poorly thought out.

Naija News recalls that Otedola had alleged that fraudulent fuel subsidy practices thrived under former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, claiming that the subsidy regime was tied to depot licenses. He argued that the policy encouraged rent-seeking and corruption rather than transparency and innovation.

The billionaire specifically criticised the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN), which has recently clashed with the Dangote Refinery. Otedola, who founded DAPPMAN in 2002, said most of its original members had exited, while current operators were clinging to depreciating assets.

Reacting, Gillis-Harry said Otedola had no authority to speak for the association. He argued that Otedola’s ability to divest quickly from the sector did not give him the right to ask others to scrap investments worth billions of naira.

“Otedola’s view on marketers innovating and restructuring is not a thoughtful statement. Is he saying all the investments that have happened in that sector should just go down the drain?” Gillis-Harry asked.

He stressed that while innovation is important, many existing facilities across Lagos, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Oghara, and other parts of Nigeria remain critical for product distribution.

The PETROAN boss further noted that Dangote’s investment in the refinery sector was timely and beneficial but insisted that it should not invalidate the contributions and relevance of other marketers.

“I believe that DAPPMAN’s leadership can speak for themselves, but I don’t think it is a good idea that Nigerians who have invested so much should scrap their investments,” he added.