Dangote backs off from investing in what he calls a 'mafia business'
Aliko Dangote criticizes Nigeria's daily fuel consumption data as exaggerated, citing corruption in the petroleum sector.
Dangote claims actual fuel consumption is around 33 million liters daily, contrary to reported figures of 50 million liters.
He mentions the inflation of figures during the subsidy era as a tactic to misuse funds.
Despite the fact that the Nigerian billionaire recently detailed plans to build Nigeria's largest seaport to expand his conglomerate, during a visit to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery by Global CEO Africa members, Dangote explained that the petroleum sector is an industry he is hesitant to enter.
This is also ironic considering the fact that his refinery currently has in-depth ties with the sector he alluded to.
According to Dangote, Nigeria does not utilize up to 40 million liters of fuel each day, despite official numbers.
The corruption within the sector is the primary reason why Dangote has decided to keep his investment far from it.
He said that during the gasoline subsidy era, several individuals inflated usage figures on purpose in order to drain state monies.
As reported by the Punch, in Q4 of 2024, the Nigerian Midstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority claimed that the Yuletide caused daily demand for petrol to reach 50 million liters.
According to Farouk Ahmed, the CEO of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, the nation's daily gasoline consumption at the time was between 45 and 50 million liters.
The NMDPRA disclosed that the number dropped from 66 million liters per day in 2023 to 50 million liters per day following President Bola Tinubu's elimination of the subsidy.
'Following Mr President's withdrawal of subsidy, the announcement on May 29, 2023, we immediately saw a steep decline in consumption, and between then and as we speak, we've continued to do plus or minus 50 million litres.
That's a considerable reduction in volumes,' the Executive Director, Distribution Systems, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure at NMDPRA, Ogbugo Ukoha, said in February.
Nonetheless, Dangote completely refuted the NMDPRA's results, claiming they did not accurately reflect Nigeria's daily fuel consumption.
What Dangote said
The Nigerian billionaire relayed the country's daily fuel consumption is somewhere around 33 million liters, which is 17 million liters less than the NMDPRA's figures.
He said that the figure was inflated since the product was previously subsidized, even up to 90 million barrels at a time, pointing out that the country does not have that many automobiles on its roadways.
'The fuel requirement of Nigeria, which we believe, based on our own estimation, is a consumption of 33 million litres per day. But, you know, because it was a subsidised item, they bloated the numbers, at one point, even to 90 million litres. But we don't have that number of vehicles. So, real consumption is about 33 million litres of petrol,' Dangote stated.
Dangote further revealed that Nigeria's aviation industry uses the least amount of fuel, 3 million liters per day, owing to the fact that there aren't many flights.
'So in all, we believe 46 million litres (of petrol, diesel and jet fuel) would satisfy these three products' needs while we are going to produce 104 million litres every day,' he said.
As opposed of the 14 million liters the regulator reported, the millionaire stated only 10 million liters of fuel were consumed.
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