NNPC-Dangote Impasse: Tinubu should save Nigerians, by Prof MK Othman
Deep Thought with Othman
I had two encounters with Dr. Aliko Dangote. One from a distance when he presented the 2016 ABU Zaria convocation lecture and the other when I was in the ABU Council delegation to condole him over the death of his brother, Alhaji Sani Dangote. In the first encounter, Dangote presented a paper titled “The Role of Entrepreneurship in National Development: The Story of Dangote Group,” where he revealed the business model by which his company blossomed into a successful conglomerate, making him the most successful business magnate in Africa. His business touches the lives of several million people in Africa and beyond through direct employment, job and wealth creation, businesses, and philanthropy.
The second encounter coincided with the visit of the All Progressives Congress (APC’s) presidential candidate for the 2023 election, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, accompanied by then-sitting Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and other entourage. Luckily, our delegation arrived earlier than the presidential candidate; we were seated, well dressed in our latest Agbada, and none of the governor’s security aides dared ask us to leave our seats for the enthusiastic politicians; we just rhymed like them. The occasion was prominent as Ganduje played the role of MC, chief host, and chairman; he completely controlled the mic. He retorted, “Alhaji Aliko Dangote is the son of Kano state; he has been the richest man in Africa, but so humble that he can hardly be distinguished from the crowd…”
In the two encounters, Dangote appeared indisputably a highly patriotic Nigerian ready to elevate the country to an enviable height among nations. During the ABU convocation lecture mentioned earlier, Alhaji Dangote said, “Importation stimulates economic growth in exporting countries while transferring inflation and job losses to importing countries,” He said he was shocked when he visited Brazil in 1997 and discovered that another third-world country similar to Nigeria had huge manufacturing complexes that provided jobs for its citizens and developed its economy. He realized there and then that if they could do it in Brazil, we could replicate the same in Nigeria.”
The entrepreneurial spirit and patriotic zeal have been the driving force behind Dangote’s unfolding successes and significant motivation to address the major public funds-gulping monster called “fuel subsidy” completely. Fuel subsidy is the government expenditure of paying the difference between the cost of importing refined petrol and the pump price to consumers. With corruption, the fuel subsidy expenditure rose from $3.58 billion in 2018 to over $3.88 billion in 2021 and about $500 million monthly when the administration of President Tinubu came to power. It was a national shame; Nigeria’s seemingly unending energy crisis – the importation of petroleum products into the country despite being Africa’s highest crude oil producer. The monster has gradually and systematically wrecked the Nigerian economy by creating overnight billionaires and pulverizing the livelihoods of Nigerians.
READ ALSO: Dangote Refinery: Pride to the Nation and beacon of hope, by Prof M.K. Othman
Dangote would be celebrated in a sane society for investing a princely $20 billion to build a modern refinery to cater to the nation’s fuel needs and exports. NNPCL, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, should have been at the forefront of the celebration for Dangote doing what it failed to do. Alas, NNPCL is unhappy with Dangote for an otherwise face-saving outcome. What an irony!
Note that NNPCL has neither produced nor refined anything, not even water, in the past two decades, yet all the staff are getting fat salaries and bonuses at the expense of the masses. Again, they get salary increases at will without any noise and stress, while the hardworking Nigerian workers, especially university staff, must go on strike to get their hard-earned salaries.
NNPCL, the unseen people enjoying the fuel subsidy payment and foreign refineries massively benefiting from Nigerian petroleum importation, ganged up to frustrate the realization of the Dangote refinery. With the support of well-meaning Nigerians, Dangote, a dogged and relentless fighter, thwarted their efforts, which collapsed like a pack of cards. Still, NNPCL refused to accept the game was over; it went clandestinely to manipulate Dangote’s refined petrol pump prices. First, Dangote must sell all refined petrol to NNPCL at N898 per liter for onward sale to marketers, which outrageously raised the price per liter to over N1,000 from N730 before Dangote’s refinery started production.
By jacking up the pump price to over N1,000, they are enticing the Dangote refinery to shift ground or join them in maintaining the status quo. But Dangote must resist enticement and continue with his path of breaking the criminal stranglehold of the oil cabal over Nigeria since 1999. It will be a lovely patriotic move to endear him to the ordinary and well-meaning Nigerians.
Why should Nigerians pay higher prices for refined petroleum products than imported ones that bear transportation costs, taxes, and other charges? At what cost would NNPCL sell to independent marketers? How much will the Nigerians buy from the independent marketers? NNPCL is working to keep Nigerians permanently in abject poverty and create disdain for the government.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the only Nigerian who can salvage the situation and make up for Nigerians because of his withdrawal of fuel subsidies. The attempted removal of fuel subsidies was the main instigator of the 2012 protest against the Jonathan government, called “Occupy Nigeria,” due to the increase in petrol price from N65 to N141 (116.92%) per liter. The protest caused the government to reduce it to N97. Similarly, the recent protest was mainly motivated by the fuel price increase from N195 to N557, then N617 in 2023, and now to over N1,000.
President Tinubu came to power to serve Nigerians who voted for him in 2023, not to amass wealth, as some people allege. Globally, President Tinubu is seen as an accomplished accountant of international repute, business tycoon, politician, and elder statesman. His primary preoccupation should be piloting Nigeria to regain its economic and political leadership in Africa and the world.
As the petroleum minister and the nation’s president, President Tinubu must swiftly act to stop NNPCL from meddling with the pump prices of Dangote’s refined petroleum products and write his name in gold for posterity. The functionality of Dangote and other private refineries will be the final and permanent solution to fuel subsidy payments. Dangote refinery should freely sell its products directly to marketers while NNPCL maintains an unrestricted supply of crude oil to it and other private refineries.
This will develop the country economically, as there will be a reduced demand for foreign currency, increasing economic productivity and the value of the Naira. This single action will place Tinubu on the prestigious path followed by famous world leaders like Mohandas K. Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, George Washington, Winston Churchill, Alexander the Great, and Martin Luther King Jr, who salvaged their people from suffering and economic hardship. Nigerians are looking up to the President to do what is needed and save them from blood-sucking oil cabal camouflaging as “patriotic” Nigerians.
Professor Mk Othman was a two term Executive Director of the National Agricultural Extension Liaison and Research Services, NAERLS, and is currently a Senior lecturer at the Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, Zaria.
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