By Taiwo Adisa
On Monday, September 2, Nigeria took huge leaps towards ending a 28-year scourge of fuel importation, when Dangote Refineries announced the commencement of the production of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise called petrol in our climes. It was a good day for businessman Aliko Dangote, whose vision led to the construction of the 650,000 barrels per day refinery in Lagos.
Dangote happily announced at a press conference at the refinery site in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, and was joyful as he freely displayed the products. He granted one interview after the other and was obviously in a celebration mood as he had attained a great feat and broken a Nigerian jinx. Nigerians in their hearts also celebrated what they believed would be the end of the dark era foisted on them by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL). I was at a restaurant that Monday afternoon and saw people freely discussing the development. One woman said she couldn’t wait to hit the filling station the next day to buy the ‘white’ fuel produced by Dangote, which was displayed on television that morning. I had to caution that the group’s President had only assured that the fuel would hit the markets within 48 hours, subject to some arrangements being perfected by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and the NNPCL on the pricing regime.
Even as Nigerians were joyous at the breakthrough Dangote had achieved in the troubled oil sector, the NNPC, like the biblical Pharaoh won’t set Nigerians free. First was the news item that the corporation would be the sole buyer of Dangote fuel. Then, as Nigerians were digesting that, the corporation landed a new petrol price, increasing the price per litre to between N865 and N897. Several questions raced through my mind. Why should the clueless NNPCL write itself into this story once again? Why should the NNPC choose September 2 to inflict another price increase on the nation? Was it trying to take the shine off Dangote, which had earlier crashed the diesel and aviation fuel prices? Was it trying to keep milking the people with the invisible oil subsidy regime, arrayed with landing cost, freight, and all such grammar? What was NNPCL driving at by jerking up fuel price on the day of joy for all Nigerians? To me, that action was only a confirmation that the corporation has been a killer joy all along and was not about shedding its toga.
It was supposed to be the end of an era. But the pig-headed corporation won’t just allow Nigerians to have their fun. This is the time to tell the NNPC, like the biblical Moses told Pharaoh, ‘Let my people Go’! We may have to ask the Federal Government, why should NNPC be recognised as the sole buyer of the products from Dangote when it has no Tank Farm to keep the products. Who would be paying for the cost to be incurred by NNPCL as it keeps Dangote fuel in private Tank Farms? Why not allow Nigerians to directly patronise the refinery and end this middleman role of the NNPC? The Yoruba have a saying; alagbata lo nso oja di owan (the middleman always inflates prices) That is what the NNPC is trying to do here. But Dangote Industries is well experienced in distributing products across Nigeria, so taking fuel to all locations should not be its problem.
How do you cede the role of a middleman to a failed oil corporation that cannot deliver on any front of its traditional assignments? The NNPC was charged with the task of leading the nation’s search for excellence in the oil business and coordinating its sales and earnings as the sixth-largest producer of crude in the world. It was supposed to break new ground and ensure effective service delivery in the upstream and downstream sectors of the industry while ensuring that the nation meets its obligations locally and to cartels, such as OPEC. The corporation also failed woefully in ensuring energy sustainability locally while dropping the ball monthly in crude production. The country had built and placed four refineries under its watch and added 21 depots for guaranteed fuel supply nationwide. Year after year, the NNPC killed the four refineries; two in Port Harcourt, one in Warri, and one in Kaduna. It also snuffed life out of the depots that were strategically spread across the country for easy product supply by failing to maintain the underground pipelines, thereby making them easy targets of vandals and saboteurs. With the same lackadaisical attitude, the NNPC gradually disempowered local fuel production starting from the era of the late General Sani Abacha, between 1993 and 1998, when the nation started relying on fuel importation to augment local supply. I remember the killer fuel imported into the country during that regime. So, what should have been Nigerians’ crowing moment was again being stolen by the NNPC, and as Moses said to Pharaoh, we should tell the NNPC, ‘Let my people Go’! Right now, the fuel supply situation is as confused as the horizons in NNPC and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, where one thing is said in the morning and a different meaning is derived in the evening. Even after the lapse of the 48-hour window for local supply given by Dangote on September 2, nothing is assured.
As I penned this on Friday, no good news had emanated from the NNPC and the Ministry of Petroleum as to the way forward. It was enough for one to immediately develop goose pimples for the fate of the $20 billion refinery, which cannot afford the type of inefficiency that had been the hallmark of the NNPCL, but we can take solace in the words of the Vice President of Dangote industries, Mr Devakumar Edwin, who confirmed last week that the refinery would sell to willing international buyers if the corporation was not forthcoming.
“If no one is buying it (petrol), we will export it as we have been exporting our aviation fuel and diesel,” he had said. A similar sentiment was echoed by Clementine Wallop, sub-Saharan African director, at Horizon Engage, a political risk consultancy. She said that allowing NNPC into the Dangote supply chain “prompts the question of how the NNPC will manage purchasing from Dangote and impresses the need for greater transparency in its finances.”
Rather than write itself into the story with a potential good ending for the people, but one that signals the end of the road for the oil subsidy cabals, the NNPC has chosen to remain in its old broth. Remember, the corporation has been a source of penury for the nation all along. It returned N3.3 trillion in ‘profits’ for 2023 but accrued $6 billion (about N9 trillion) in debt from January 2024. Ever since the words ‘subsidy is gone’ echoed from the lips of President Bola Tinubu on May 29, 2023, the corporation has turned petrol into an invisible item Nigerians loathe to covet. Queues have been commonplace across the country, leaving Nigerians at the mercy of the filling stations. Some sell for N900 per litre, while the more daring ones sell at N1,200 or above.
On Thursday, the NNPC said its fuel price is a product of “market forces” (some spirits in outer space), while the Minister of State for Petroleum, Heineken Lokpobiri claimed that the Federal Government no longer dictates fuel prices because the sector has been deregulated. So what was the NNPC doing with being the sole buyer of Dangote fuel then? Perhaps, the corporation and the ministry think that Nigerians carry coconut heads or are suffering from obtuse absentmindedness, the type that left the corporation in ruins all these years.
If you claim on one hand that the sector has been deregulated, how do you turn around to stop Dangote from fixing a price for his products and why keep Nigerians waiting and suffering at the filling stations even when the products are ready at Dangote refinery?
I believe that the NNPC is unwilling to let go of its opaque operating style that has left the nation’s finances comatose but has produced emergency billionaires who are afraid of losing their kill if the people gain freedom. Why is it difficult to tell the world how much Dangote would buy crude in Naira, such that everyone can calculate what the litre would cost? Why was it possible for Dangote to crash the prices of aviation fuel and diesel in a few months of operation to the extent that diesel, which sold for N1,900 per litre in May 2023 is now becoming cheaper than petrol that sold for less than N200 per litre at the time?
The long and short of it all, we must sound it loud and clear: NNPC, Let my people Go!