Dangote also stated that his refinery will put an end to round-tripping and false documentation of imported petrol in Nigeria
By Kehinde Okeowo
The President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has claimed the decision of the federal executive council (FEC) to approve supply of crude oil to his refinery in local currency will slash the foreign exchange demand in Nigeria by at least 40 per cent.
He made this known on Tuesday while briefing journalists that the 650,000 barrels per day Lagos-based Dangote refinery will soon begin the rollout of its Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise known as petrol.
According to him, the approval by President Bola Tinubu will substitute import dependence, bring down inflation, and stabilize the Naira against the dollar.
He went on to express heartfelt gratitude to the president and his administration for providing a strategy that will ultimately ensure energy security in the country.
“I want to personally also thank Mr. President for creating this idea of Naira for Crude and also Naira for the product. This will give a lot of stability for the Naira because you remove 40% of the demand of the dollars in the market. That’s not only it.
“Today’s discussion is only to thank God almighty for bringing us into this period of now producing gasoline. I know that a lot of people think we won’t be able to deliver. But we’ve been able to deliver,” Dangote said.
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He further said the commencement of distribution by Dangote refinery will put an end to round-tripping and false documentation of imported petrol into the country.
In his words, the $19 billion refinery will monitor every single truck and shipment loaded with petrol as well as the consumption patterns of Nigerians.
“As you know, there is quite a lot of what you call round-tripping whereby people now do documentation and the fuel is not coming to Nigeria. And this is a fact.
“Right now, as we have this refinery working, it will show the true consumption of Nigeria. We can track every single loaded trucks. And we will try as much as possible to track the loaded ship.
“We can tell you where the trucks will be. We can tell you the consumption pattern etc,” he added.
Speaking further during the media parley, the business mogul assured, “The quality will match that of anywhere in the world.”
Dangote also said the product will hit the Nigerian market as soon as discussions are finalized with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
“As soon as we finalize with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, our product will start entering the market.” he further said.
The latest development comes as Nigerians groan over prolonged fuel queues across the country.
Petrol currently sells as high as N1,000 per liter in some parts of Nigeria.
