Dangote Refinery Is National Treasure, Lawmaker Tells NNPCL, NMDPRA

The member representing Anambra East and West federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Peter Aniekwe, has warned the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to stop what he called ‘lies and rumours’ being peddled against the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals Company.

According to the lawmaker, the private company is a national asset, which should be rather protected and promoted by the nation’s authorities and not disparaged by institutions such as NNPCL and NMDPRA.

Aniekwe, in a statement issued in Abuja over weekend, faulted NMDPRA’s allegations that the Dangote Refinery was producing inferior products compared to imported ones.

The lawmaker carpeted the Chief Executive Officer of NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, who made the claim and further stated that the quality of diesel produced by Dangote Refinery was 665ppm, which he considered inferior.

But, the lawmaker said it was quite disheartening that the CEO of NMDPRA, who is paid by taxpayers money, will be dishing out tissues of lies on an indigenous refinery owned by foremost Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote which holds potential for addressing the nation’s challenges in the petroleum sector.

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Hon. Aniekwe recalled how Ahmed said: “The Dangote refinery is still in the pre-commissioning stage. It has not been licenced yet. We haven’t licenced them yet. They are still in pre-commissioning stage. I think they’re about 45 per cent completed, in completion rather.

“So we cannot rely heavily on one refinery to feed the nation, because Dangote is requesting that we should suspend or stop all importation of petroleum products, especially AGO (diesel) and jet fuel, and direct all marketers to the refinery.

“So, in terms of quality, currently…Dangote refinery as well as some major refineries like Waltersmith refinery, produce between 650ppm to 1,200 ppm. So, in terms of quality, their quality is much inferior to the imported quality.”

The lawmaker, however, said that it was impressive that: “Dangote called for a test of their products, which was supervised by Members of the House of Representatives and it was revealed that Dangote’s diesel had a Sulphur content of 87.6 ppm (parts per million), while the other two samples diesel imported showed Sulphur levels exceeding 1800 ppm and 2000 ppm respectively rendering the allegations made by the NMDPRA boss baseless.”

Hon. Peter Aniekwe further berated NNPCL for its failure to invest and deny Dangote Refinery, saying it was laughable that: “While the Federal government of Nigeria subscribed 20% shares in Dangote Refinery, the Chairman (Dangote) revealed that Nigeria was unable to redeem its obligation and now owns 7.2% through NNPCL.

While declaring that the alleged gang-up by both the NNPCL and NMDPRA will fail, he said: “Dangote Refinery, with a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) is believed to be Africa’s largest refinery, and the World’s 7th largest by capacity, and its construction was intended to assuage the petroleum products needs and accompanying pains faced by Nigerians.”