Veiled facts unveil as NNPCL is criticised for selling Dangote’s PMS higher than imported

By OUR REPORTERS

That time, early in January 2024, has since passed and till today, the Tinubu government has continued to keep Nigerians in the dark regarding the state of the government-owned refinery, which rehabilitation was started with the World Bank $1.5 billion loan his administration, by proxies, told Nigerians was used by Buhari to buy Nigerian crude oil in advance and that the nation had no crude to sell to Dangote.

Oil marketers on Monday argued that it was not normal for the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to sell petrol produced locally from the Dangote Refinery to Nigerians at a pump price higher than fuel imported from the foreign land.

They were kicking as more Nigerians got convinced by facts trickling in, indicating that Alhaji Aliko Dangote’s recent claims were true and correct. Dangoted had said that relevant government authorities still regulate the oil sector and that, although he was fully ready to provide the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) enough to serve the entire country, export and stop imports, the NNPCL would determine the price for his locally refined petrol would

After suffering from NNPCL’s refusal to sell crude oil to his refinery and attempts by the Federal Government agencies to allegedly run him down over claims that he produced substandard products, Dangote had expressed unhappiness that it was in his own country that people, who should support him to succeed, wanted to destroy him.

He started by making economically scary revelations from saying that the land he used to build the refinery, at Ibeju-Lekki, was not for free but that he paid $100 million to the Lagos State Government to get it.

The state government, to the public knowledge, is indisputably controlled by a Governor Emeritus that is now presiding over the affairs of Nigeria including the chances of Dangote to access crude oil to produce PMS locally for Nigerians, who are already hard-hit by his said to be wrongly implemented policies.

Dangote also revealed that there is an oil blending factory in Malta, owned by several Nigerians including the current head of NNPCL, Mele Kyari, and a businessman he let Nigerians know to be the President’s cousin, Wale Tinubu, among others.

By his revelations, analysts said that class of Nigerian owners of Malta will always favour importation of refined petroleum products and will never let local refineries work in the country. Sadly, it was further said, that cousin of a sitting President and senior Minister of Petroleum Resources, and another being head of Nigeria’s only oil sector management corporation are allegedly involved.

The President, following the Dangote’s revelation of those serious allegations, caused a truce meeting between the government and Dangote but the meeting deadlocked. He moved thereafter by ordering the NNPCL to sell crude oil, which his government through proxies had told Nigerians no longer exists, to the currently only local refinery and in Naira.

Those proxies claimed the inexistency was caused by Tinubu’s predecessor, former President Muhammadu Buhari, who they said swapped all Nigerian crude oil for a loan of $1.5 billion.

The DEFENDER’s fact-checks, however, revealed that $1.5 bilion loan, which they claimed the entire crude oil of the country was swapped for, was the money Buhari put in fixing the Port Harcourt Refinery during the last year of his administration.

The Tinubu administration officially confirmed completion of the refinery’s rehabilitation during his third month in office in August 2023 and announced to Nigerians it would start to roll out refined products in December same year but failed.

It then said commencement would be after Christmas holiday, which again failed and the third time it announced Port Harcourt Refinery would start work after new year holiday.

That time, early in January 2024, has since passed and till today, the Tinubu government has continued to keep Nigerians in the dark regarding the state of the government-owned refinery, which rehabilitation was started with the World Bank $1.5 billion loan his administration, by proxies, told Nigerians was used by Buhari to buy Nigerian crude oil in advance and that the nation had no crude to sell to Dangote.

Because Dangote, himself a force that is not a small fry, refused to be easily pushed to the slaughter slab, President Bola Tinubu ordered the NNPCL not only to sell crude oil to his refinery but also make the sales in Naira.

After a media alert that Dangote was yet to get the crude oil a couple of months despite presidential order, the NNPCL eventually sold to him not in Naira but in Dollar and at prevailing international market price.

The government did not, however, tell this to Nigerians until its claim of having bought PMS from the local refinery at N898, Dangote, again, took to the press and publicly replied that, “We did not sell our PMS to you in Naira but in Dollar”.

Instead for the government to come out clean and clear on this, the matter has been left in the hands of the President’s supporters known as BATists, who are now working hard through the social media to misrepresent the Dangote in the eyes of o Nigerians.

They tried to put questions forward asking why PMS imported is cheaper than the one refined locally. These same people, it was further found out, had earlier celebrated the Port Harcourt Refinery rehabilitation completion in August last year and Dangote’s glorious PMS local production breakthrough recently claiming them to be achievements of their political master in power.

This is how BATists, who had cried foul that Tinubu Presidency’s media aides failed to sell his achievements, are now selling the achievements of their principal, we gathered.

Now convinced by the truths being revealed, oil marketers on Monday September 16, 2024 argued that it was not normal for the NNPCL to sell petrol produced locally from the Dangote Refinery to Nigerians at a pump price higher than imported fuel.

Coming under the umbrella of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), the oil marketers stressed that it then means that there was no cause for celebration if imported products are cheaper.

“If NNPC can sell Dangote product higher than the imported product, it doesn’t make sense. What is the celebration we’re having all this while then?, ” IPMAN’s National Welfare Officer, John Kekeocha, said on Channels Television.

Last Sunday, the NNPC began loading the first batch of petrol from the Dangote Refinery on Sunday, saying it got petrol at N898 per litre from the private refinery.

Early Monday, the national oil company released estimated prices of petrol obtained from the Dangote Refinery in its retail stations across the country, stressing that in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), petrol prices are not set by government, but negotiated directly between parties.

“The NNPC can confirm that it is paying Dangote Refinery in USD for September 2024 PMS offtake, as Naira transactions will only commence on October 1, 2024.

“The NNPC assures that if the quoted pricing is disputed, it will be grateful for any discount from the Dangote Refinery, which will be passed on 100 per cent to the general public,” it stated.

In the attached document, according to reports, the NNPCL stated that fuel from the Dangote refinery will sell for N950.22 per litre in Lagos; N960.22 in Oyo; N980.22 in Rivers; N992.22 in Abuja; N999.22 in in Kaduna; N999.22 in Kano; N999.22 in Sokoto and N1,019 in Borno, based on the September pricing template.

A breakdown indicated that the final price from the Dangote refinery was N898.78, according to the statement, while distribution within Lagos is N15 per litre, inspection fee is N0.97, NMDPRA fee is N8.99, with an expected margin of N26.48.

Before lifting petrol from the Dangote Refinery on Sunday, NNPC retail outlets in Lagos sold petrol for around N855 and N897 in Abuja.

But the Dangote Refinery denied selling petrol to the NNPC at N898. A spokesman for the refinery Anthony Chiejina in a statement on Sunday described the claim by the NNPC as “misleading and mischievous”.

“It should also be noted that we sold the products to NNPC in dollars with a lot of savings against what they are currently importing. With this action, there will be petrol in every local government area of the country regardless of their remote nature,” Chiejina said.

But the IPMAN executive explained that it was assumed that the product should be relatively cheaper because it is no longer being shipped in from abroad.

He argued that the fuel that NNPC is getting from Dangote cannot be costlier than the one imported, because it has the advantage of the removal of a huge part of supply logistics.

“The products we are about to get from Dangote refinery cannot be costlier than the one imported because we have an advantage of supply logistics,” he said.

“If the Dangote refinery’s petrol price is N950 per litre without government intervention, it means under-recovery gradually comes to an end and maybe, Nigerians would get it cheaper,” he added.

Meanwhile, the NNPC has adjusted some portions of the nationwide petrol price document it released earlier on Monday September 16.

Although the estimated prices for selling petrol around the country remained the same, however, the NNPC altered the analysis of the transaction it had with Dangote Refinery.

Media checks showed that the areas of differences between the first press statement and the second was that while for the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), the fee was N8.99, the second statement showed N4.495.

Also, while the first statement had an inspection fee of N0.97, a margin of N26.48 and a distribution fee of N15, the second statement did not indicate inspection fee and margin. Also, the distribution and logistics fee was changed to N42.45.

Besides, the second statement had an additional Midstream and Gas Infrastructure Fund (MDGIF) of N4.495. The MDGIF is a government fund set up to invest in infrastructure projects that will improve transportation and processing as well as utilisation in the sector, THISDAY reported.