“Over N1 Billion”: Dangote Gives Strict Condition to Sell Diesel, Marketers Protest
- Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria are protesting the minimum cap of one million litres by the Dangote Refinery
- They said that the threshold is too expensive for the majority of marketers to afford as banks are no longer helping matters
- He said that ports, barges, and other logistics for transporting the product from the refinery to the depots are already set up
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Legit.ng journalist Zainab Iwayemi has over three years of experience covering the Economy, Technology, and Capital Market.
Dr Billy Harry, the national president of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), has denounced the Dangote Petroleum Refinery's minimum cap of one million litres of automotive gas oil (AGO) fuel.
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The company reportedly informed the marketers that the refinery can only provide them with a minimum of one million litres of diesel.
Harry stated over the phone with The Nation that the threshold is too expensive for most marketers to afford.
He said the banks are no longer helpful in this circumstance because they have declined to lend them money.
He said:
“The only condition that has been a little difficult is that Dangote has a low threshold of buying one million litres. One million litres of diesel at N1,200 or N1,100 is over N1 billion.
“That is not what every marketer has in his account. And banks are also not forthcoming with lendable funds.”
He, however, implored the refinery to consider industry stakeholders' capabilities.
Marketers are prepared
Harry stated that ports, barges, and other logistics for moving the product from the refinery to the depots are already set up, indicating readiness to equip the refinery with the necessary logistics.
He added that the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) on staff, which has always guaranteed cordial working relationships.
“We are ready. We have our membership in thousands that are ready to work. We are working very closely with NUPENG and PTD to ensure that we have a smooth working relationship. PETROAN will do everything to make sure the Nigerian service is more efficient. That is how prepared we are.”
He said that Nigeria spends $2.4 billion on the shipping of cargoes of petrol annually.
He added:
“From the knowledge we have, we are bringing in approximately 200,000 metric tons. That is almost over $200 million. In a year, we will save about $2.4 billion."
The pause, he claimed, will save the nation a great deal of money.
Dangote speaks on opening first African refinery
Legit.ng reported that Aliko Dangote, the richest man in Africa and chairman of the 650,000 bpd Dangote Refinery at Lekki, Lagos state, said no refining facility has been established in Africa in the past 35 years because the continent's vast fuel imports have benefited many.
In an excerpt from an interview with CNN, Dangote said that even though he had built a $19 billion refinery, he would have reconsidered if he had known in advance how difficult it would be to construct a plant of that size on the continent.
He argued that foreign aid and investments would not build Africa, explaining that Africans would have to develop the continent on their own.
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Source: Legit.ng
