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Nigerians have called out the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Authority, Farouk Ahmed, for saying the diesel produced by the $20bn Dangote refinery is inferior to the ones imported into the country.

It appears Ahmed incurred the wrath of Nigerians, who accused him of trying to demarket the refinery owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote.

PUNCH Online reported earlier that Ahmed had told the Dangote refinery that the Federal Government would not stop the importation of petroleum products, saying Nigeria cannot depend on one refinery to feed the nation.

The agency also said the diesel from the Dangote refinery contains a high sulphur content of about 1,000 parts per million.

Reacting to allegations that the NMDPRA was giving licences to some traders to import dirty fuel into Nigeria, Ahmed argued that it was the Dangote fuel that had the larger content of sulphur.

He revealed that the refinery, which has been selling diesel and aviation fuel in Nigeria for months, has not been licensed, stating that it is still at the pre-commissioning stage.

“The claim by some media houses that there were steps to scuttle the Dangote refinery is not so. The Dangote refinery is still in the pre-commissioning stage. It has not been licensed yet; we haven’t licensed them yet. They are still in the pre-commissioning. I think they have about 45 per cent completion,” he declared.

The NMDPRA boss warned that Nigeria cannot rely heavily on the Dangote refinery for its fuel supply.

According to him, the refinery had requested the regulator to stop giving import licences to other marketers so as to be the only fuel supplier in Nigeria.

“We cannot rely heavily on one refinery to feed the nation, because Dangote is requesting that we should suspend or stop importation of all petroleum products, especially AGO and direct all marketers to the refinery, that is not good for the nation in terms of energy security. And that is not good for the market, because of monopoly,” he stressed.

Speaking about quality, he said, “So, in terms of quality, currently the AGO quality in terms of sulphur is the lowest as far as the West African requirement of 50 ppm is concerned.

“Dangote refinery and some modular refineries, like Waltersmith refinery and Aradel refinery, are producing between 650 to 1,200ppm. So, in terms of quality, their product is much more inferior to the imported quality,” he alleged.

While the Dangote Group has yet to react officially to the allegations from the chief executive, Nigerians have taken to social media to demand Ahmed’s removal by President Bola Tinubu.

An X user, Ohiozoje Augustine, said, “He should be immediately relieved of his duties to prevent the damaging impression that his actions were endorsed by those at the top.”

@realist_waley opined: “It’s a very deliberate reckless talk that should warrant a query from the government. This is an obvious economic sabotage and that guy needs to be suspended.”

@Talk2me001, replied the NMDPRA boss: “This is your own selfish agenda. Why do we need to import when we already have Dangote producing legally? Truly, Dangote is right then, that the oil cabals are more dangerous than drug cabals.”

@Dankatsina50 said: “This is a strategy to frustrate Dangote refinery. This has been the game of the oil cabals that has made a whole country not have a single functioning refinery for years. They should allow him to be selling the inferior one to us like that, we will buy it.”

@Gviev commented, “I hope the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor and Minister of Finance are listening to this man. We are talking about promoting local production and exports to reduce demand for foreign exchange and strengthen the naira. He and the oil marketers are rather focused on their selfish interest to keep importing and depressing the naira.

“You should be talking about competition for local producers instead of trying to manipulate Nigerians to focus on your propaganda that Dangote wants a monopoly. Well, it’s Nigeria that will suffer it because Dangote Refinery will just focus on exports.”

Johnson Ayodeji asked, “Oga, is it Dangote that made the government-owned refineries moribund for decades? or has Dangote stopped any other person from building a refinery? We know the enemies of our country.”

Sola Solarin claimed, “This statement is self-indicting. If Dangote has not been licensed, why is he being allowed to sell diesel? If Dangote can meet our local needs, why do we need to import? We can restrict import without compromising energy security.”

@Woye stated: “The interview granted by Farouk Ahmed, the Chief Executive Officer of the NMDPRA was a reckless statement. The refinery is in the stages of completion and commissioning. They are producing AGO and it is normal for their sulphur level to be high for now.

“That their products are inferior is an unfortunate statement that indicates that he has a personal grudge against Aliko Dangote. I do hope that the Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri will issue him a query.

“Don’t introduce politics of refinery and IOCS into this laudable project of Dangote.”

Olatunji Olalekan maintained: “Honestly, Ahmed’s statement was completely sabotage to the whole investment on Dangote refinery and Foreign Direct Investment. He should be queried and investigation should commence immediately to get to the root cause of his statement in order to prevent future occurrence.”

Sammy said: “Farouk should be shown the way out ASAP.”

@olusegunIfade also said: “Farouk Ahmed’s statement that Dangote refinery product is inferior compared to imported ones and shouldn’t be relied on is clearly a sabotage! He must be part of the cabal in the oil industry working to see the end of Dangote refinery. He should be sacked! #SackFaroukNow.”

Dr. Abdullahi Mohammed: “Farouk Ahmed is the face of the cabal’s frustrating and sabotaging campaign against local refining of our crude oil. In China and other developed countries, Farouk has no reason to remain in that office as CEO. This same reason is why all the refineries in Nigeria can’t work.”

PUNCH Online reports that government-owned refineries have been moribund for years as efforts to bring them to life are yet to succeed.

Over the years, Nigeria has been importing refined petroleum products. This, Dangote vowed to stop when he began the production of PMS.

However, the Dangote Group alleged that the IOC was sabotaging its efforts by refusing to sell crude to the refinery while the NMDPRA kept granting licences for the importation of “dirty fuel into Nigeria.”