The President and Chief Executive of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, on Tuesday provided further insights into how to resolve the recurring issue of fuel queues in the country.
Dangote, speaking to State House reporters in Abuja, encouraged the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and fuel marketers nationwide to cease importing fuel.
He expressed confidence that his refinery offers a lasting solution to the persistent fuel queues across the nation.
“What I estimate as our daily consumption is about 30-32 million litres, and we can even start production by next week. That isn’t really an issue because, as of today, we have 500 million litres in our tanks. Even without any production or imports, that would cover the country’s needs for more than 12 days,” Dangote said.
“We are very prepared, more than ready, and I’m putting my name on the line to supply the market with 30 million litres per day as we scale up production. So we’re ready.
“I expect that the NNPCL and marketers should stop importing and instead collect what they need from us. I don’t know if people realise what it means to hold half a billion litres in storage—it’s costing me money. If I were to charge interest, it would be 32 per cent daily. That’s what I’m losing. If they come to collect, there won’t be any queues at petrol stations.”
This statement came barely four weeks after the federal government began implementing a policy to sell crude oil to the Dangote Refinery in naira rather than US dollars.
The federal government stated that this move aims to stabilise fuel prices domestically and strengthen Nigeria’s currency by reducing the demand for dollars in crude oil transactions.