Industrialist and Chairman of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has assured that with the cost of diesel dropping one-thirds to ₦1,200, the rate of inflation will soon drop.
Dangote was speaking to journalists when he paid Eid-el-Fitr homage on President Bola Tinubu at his residence in Lagos.
He said his petroleum refinery had been selling diesel at ₦1,200 naira per litre compared to the previous market price of ₦1,650-₦1,700.
He also expressed optimism on the economy noting that the naira exchange rate has improved significantly in recent months, dropping from around ₦1,900 to the dollar to ₦1,250-₦1,300.
This, he said, is already having a positive impact, with the price of locally-produced goods like flour coming down as businesses pay less for diesel fuel.
According to him: “I discussed a lot of things that are ongoing, which I believe that we are on the right track. I believe Nigerians have been patient and I also believe that a lot of goodies will now come through.
“There’s quite a lot of improvement because if you look at it, one of the major issues that we’ve had was the Naira devaluation that has gone very aggressively up to about ₦1,900. But right now we’re back to almost ₦1,250, ₦1,300, which is a good reprieve.
“You can see quite a lot of things have actually gone. Even people now when you go to the market, for example, something that we produce locally like a flour or whatever, people will charge you more. Why? Because they’re paying very high prices on diesel and what we did, for example, in our refinery, we started selling diesel at about ₦1,200 from ₦1,650 and I’m sure as we go along, things will continue to improve quite a lot.
“Well, even now it’s a lot of impact. If you look at it now, when you are buying ₦1,650, ₦1,700 for a liter of diesel, and that one has been cut off by almost one third to now be paying for diesel at ₦1,200.
“And maybe eventually going forward, even though the crude prices are going up, even with that, I believe people will not get it much higher than what it is today, ₦1,200.
“It might be even a little bit lower but it can help quite a lot because if you are transporting locally produced goods, rice and other stuff, you are paying ₦1,650.
“Now you are paying two thirds of that amount, ₦1,200. It’s a lot. It’s a lot of difference. People don’t know.
“That can actually help to bring inflation down immediately. And I’m sure when the inflation figures are out for the next month, you see that there’s quite a lot of improvement in the inflation rate.
“So one step at a time. And I’m sure the government is working around the clock to make sure that things get much better.
“Because it’s in their own interest. It’s in the interest of everybody, it’s in our own interest and I just want to thank everybody for Nigerians to get things better.”
