The National President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Abubakar Maigandi, has raised concerns regarding Aliko Dangote’s claim that the Dangote refinery currently holds 500 million liters of petrol (premium motor spirit) in stock for distribution to Nigerians.
Maigandi highlighted that members of his association, who were enlisted by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to collect products from the refinery, were unable to load petrol for four consecutive days.
Additionally, he pointed out that oil marketers have already paid N40 billion to the NNPCL but have still not been able to access products from the refinery.
This statement comes in the wake of Dangote’s urging for petroleum marketers and the NNPCL to source petrol directly from his refinery to address local demand.
Dangote asserted that the refinery can produce over 30 million liters of fuel daily at full capacity and has sufficient reserves to supply the country for more than 12 days without imports. He confirmed the refinery’s readiness to supply fuel following discussions with President Bola Tinubu at the Aso Rock Villa in Abuja.
“We’re more than ready,” Dangote assured State House Correspondents, adding that the refinery’s production capacity could offset Nigeria’s fuel needs significantly.
“It is not an issue because, as we speak today, we have 500 million litres, you know, in our tanks. So 500 million litres in our tanks even if there’s no production from anybody or no imports. This will take the country more than 12 days, you know, with no imports, with no production, nothing,” he added.
The IPMAN leader, reacting to this, expressed surprise that the refinery currently possesses a stock of fuel products sufficient to meet the nation’s needs for a full 12 days.
He also expressed surprise that the owner of the $20bn refinery said marketers were boycotting his refinery to buy imported petrol.
Maigandi said, “If he (Dangote) can be able to sell the product to us directly, we can buy the product because we have to pay before we pick. Presently, we have N40bn under the NNPCL custody but we cannot source the product.
“Just recently, there are some of my marketers that NNPCL sent to load in Dangote refinery, and those marketers stayed with their trucks for four days, and they cannot load. So I was surprised when Dangote said he has over 500 million litres of PMS. We are ready to buy the product from Dangote if he is ready to sell it to us directly.”
The IPMAN leader stated that instead of sourcing Dangote petrol through the NNPCL, the private refinery should directly register independent petrol marketers to facilitate smoother loading of the product.
