A group of Nigerians in the diaspora, operating under the banner of the Nigerians in Diaspora Movement (NIDM), expressed concern on Monday over the ongoing tensions between Dangote Petrochemical Industry and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL).
The group warned that the regulatory body might secretly be facilitating Dangote Refinery’s potential monopoly in the distribution of petroleum products in Nigeria.
The warning was issued in a statement by Dr. Donald Illiya, the Global President of NIDM, who raised alarms about the ongoing rivalry between the NNPCL and Dangote Refinery, suggesting that it could distract Nigerians while covertly enabling Dangote to dominate the oil distribution sector. The group also criticized the NNPCL for its role in suppressing state-owned refineries, which have remained non-operational for years.
The statement read: “We have watched with growing concern the staged confrontation between NNPCL and Dangote Petrochemicals Refinery, a performance seemingly designed to exploit Nigerians by keeping fuel prices excessively high.”
NIDM stressed that Nigeria’s economic future hinges on the revival of government-owned refineries, which could significantly reduce fuel costs and positively impact the cost of living. The group also accused the NNPCL of deliberately neglecting domestic refineries, allowing Dangote Refinery to establish a near-monopoly.
“Given the state of the nation’s refineries, it is clear that NNPCL and its officials are facilitating Dangote’s monopoly by failing to revive local refineries while feigning public hostility towards one another,” the statement continued.
The group pointed to the massive waste of over N17 trillion spent between 2002 and 2022 on the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries, with no tangible results. Despite ongoing repairs, these refineries have remained dormant.
NIDM highlighted the corruption within the energy sector, citing the $1.5 billion allocated to refurbish the Kaduna, Port Harcourt, and Warri refineries under the Buhari administration, and an additional N54.66 billion spent in 2022, with little to show for it.
The statement further criticized the constant shifting of target dates for the refineries’ operational resumption. For instance, a December 2023 target for the Port Harcourt Refinery was moved to March 2024 and then further delayed multiple times. Similar postponements were announced for the Kaduna and Warri refineries.
“These repeated delays and failures to restore the refineries suggest that the problem goes beyond mere incompetence or mismanagement. It now appears that the refineries are being intentionally kept idle to pave the way for a monopoly, which is a dangerous development, especially as global efforts intensify to curb monopolistic practices,” the group warned.
The NIDM, therefore, urged President Bola Tinubu to take immediate action to clean up the corruption within NNPCL and ensure the revival of domestic refineries. The group stressed that failing to do so could lead Nigeria into a fuel supply monopoly, creating a “single point of failure” for the nation’s energy security.
, expressed concern on Monday over the ongoing tensions between Dangote Petrochemical Industry and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL).){kind=link}