Aliko Dangote, the wealthy industrialist and owner of the refinery located in Lagos, said at a news conference that “it’s a celebration day” for Nigerians.
He assured the people of the country that “you will now have good gasoline while the engines of your vehicles will last longer.”
You won’t have the engine problems that many of us did. It won’t occur in any way. “We will ensure that our quality surpasses that of any other place in the world, including the United States and America,” declared Dangote.
The owner of the refinery stated that the product would be released onto the market as soon as his company completes the necessary paperwork with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL). Our product will begin to be sold as soon as we reach a definitive agreement with the NNPCL.
“We’ll contribute to the revival of manufacturing and industry. We’re going to start actual import substitution, which means we’ll be earning and conserving foreign cash, which will assist stabilize the naira and lower inflation and living expenses, he said.
The largest industrialist in Africa, Dangote, started producing 350,000 barrels per day at his $20 billion plant in Lagos last December.
After being hampered at first by legal disputes over regulations, the refinery plans to reach its maximum capacity of 650,000 barrels per day by the end of the year. The refinery started supplying the nation’s marketers with diesel, aviation fuel, and now gasoline.
According to sources, the $6 billion debt that the NNPCL owes fuel suppliers has made Nigeria’s ongoing gasoline shortage—which has been since the start of 2024—worse. At various points in time, the NNPCL attributed the shortage of the necessary items to factors such as flooding and logistical difficulties.
However, NNPCL spokesman Olufemi Soneye stated in a statement on Sunday that “the company has been under significant pressure due to this financial strain, which also poses a threat to the sustainability of fuel supply.”
Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, has energy problems because none of its state-owned refineries are now in use.
The state-owned NNPC is the main importer of the necessary goods, and the nation is mostly dependent on imported refined petroleum products.
In the nation, fuel lines are not uncommon.
Due to the decades-long epileptic electrical supply, the cost of gasoline has tripled since the termination of subsidies in May 2023, from approximately ₦200/litre to roughly ₦800/litre. This has made matters worse for the citizens who rely on gasoline to power their cars and generators.
The naira’s value plummeted from $1/₦700 to over $1/₦1600 at the parallel market when the government unified the FX windows at the same time. Food and basic commodity prices skyrocketed right away as Nigerians struggled with accompanying inflation.
References and Citation
channelstv.com – ‘Our Quality Matches That Of America’, Dangote Refinery Rolls Out Petrol
legit.ng – “It’s a US Quality:” Dangote Refinery Speaks on Colour of Petrol
nationonlineng.com – Our petrol quality matches that of US, others – Dangote
punchng.com – Our petrol will match US quality – Dangote