A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Olisa Agbakoba, has warned the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited not to take over the Dangote Refinery.
Agbakoba was reacting to a comment by the businessman that the NNPC should buy the refinery if that would put an end to calling him a monopolist.
Dangote made the comment amid the controversies surrounding his 650,000 barrels per day refinery.
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority Chief Executive, Farouk Ahmed, had said Dangote and other local refineries have been producing inferior fuels.
Ahmed said, “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. That is not good for the market, because of monopoly.”
Baffled by Ahmed’s comment, Dangote said he would be ready to hand over the refinery to the government.
“Let them (NNPCL) buy me out and run the refinery the best way they can. They have labelled me a monopolist. That’s an incorrect and unfair allegation, but it’s okay. If they buy me out, at least, their so-called monopolist would be out of the way,” Dangote said.
However, in a short statement on Monday, Agbakoba disagreed asking, “Why take over what a private individual built? Why can’t the Federal Government fix its refineries all these years?”
Agbakoba stated that there is no reason to allow an efficient businessman to ‘hold the country to ransom’ as being speculated when there is a simple alternative.
According to the legal luminary, Nigeria needs to fix the refineries and make Nigeria work by providing electricity, potable water, good healthcare, quality education, good roads and food.
“The simple alternative for us all is this – Let Nigeria work. Let there be light. Let there be food. Let there be water. Let there be jobs. Let there be money, schools, healthcare, roads and others,” he stressed.
This, he said, is the way to end the so-called Dangote monopoly “and not as suggested by taking over another man’s sweat.”
He added, “Let the Federal Government fix its own refineries. If all our refineries are working, there won’t be anything called a Dangote Refinery monopoly.”
Agbakoba declared that he is in support of Dangote and all other local refineries, saying they would boost the nation’s refining capacity and end fuel importation.
Recall that Agbakoba had recently asked President Bola Tinubu to overhaul the country’s energy sector and the regulatory framework.