Arewa Youth Assembly has urged Dangote Refinery’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Aliko Dangote, to comply with guidelines and standards of Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited as the country’s regulatory body for the oil and gas industry.
The speaker of the Assembly, Mohammed Salihu Danlami, at a press conference in Abuja yesterday, said it would be selfish for Dangote to expect the NNPCL to bend the regulations to serve them.
Dangote and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, alongside the NNPCL, have been embroiled in a dispute recently, ranging from monopoly allegations to crude oil supply for the refinery, substandard fuel imports, and ownership of blending plants in Malta.
However, Danlami said before establishing the Aliko Dangote refinery, the NNPCL, NUPRC, and NMDPRA existed to carry out their duties as regulatory bodies.
He said Dangote should understand that these are sectors dealing with regulations.
“Therefore, the bodies expect him to abide by the rules and nothing more. Even the Dangote Group has rules and regulations that all stakeholders must adhere to.
“It is surprising that Aliko Dangote, as a businessman, has forgotten that competition is inevitable in business.
“Our findings show that he wants NMDPRA not to license anyone else to bring in products. They said no! He blackmails them and is trying to incite Nigerians against NMDPRA, claiming they are giving licenses to marketers who bring in substandard products into the country.
“We are calling on the National Assembly to make public the laboratory results from his own refinery because information we are getting from different sources indicates that the products are substandard.
“We know Mr. Dangote has been operating all his life in an industry without regulation, but the oil and energy industry has rules and regulations,” he said.
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