Dangote Petroleum Refinery has alleged that an unnamed international firm had hired a depot next to its facility to blend low-quality products and dump in the country.
The spokesman for the company, Mr Anthony Chiejina, disclosed this in a statement in Lagos.
He said the promoters of the scheme were unmindful of the effects of substandard products on the health of Nigerians or the lifespan of their vehicles or the growth of domestic refining in Nigeria.
He said the international trading company planned to mislead unsuspecting local buyers in efforts to compete with the Dangote Refinery products in the country.
“We should point out that it is not unusual for countries to protect their domestic industries in order to provide jobs and grow the economy. For example, the US and Europe have had to impose high tariffs on EVs and microchips in order to protect their domestic industries.
“While we continue with our determination to provide affordable, good quality, domestically refined petroleum products in Nigeria, we call on the public to disregard the deliberate disinformation being circulated by agents of people who prefer for us to continue to export jobs and import poverty.
“While we continue with our determination to provide affordable, good quality, domestically-refined petroleum products in Nigeria, we call on the public to disregard the deliberate disinformation being circulated by agents of people who prefer for us to continue to export jobs and import poverty,” he said.
The company also said its petrol was cheaper than the one imported by the Nigerian National Petroleum Limited (NNPC) imported into the country by NNPCL.
Chiejina said the refinery sells its petrol at N960 per litre into ships and N990 per litre into trucks.
He was reacting to a claim by the marketers that the refinery’s prices are higher than other suppliers, making it difficult for independent marketers to buy from it.
“Dangote’s price is higher than other places. Because if you can go by the price, the international price of crude has already started coming down. If I could remember, as of last week, he gave N995 per litre, and you have to bring your cargo and load.”
“How much will you pay for the cargo? And how much will go to the depot? And you expect independent marketers to go and sell it. Can we go and sell? Look, we have to pity Nigerians,” the national assistant secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Mr Yakubu Suleiman, had said in an interview.
“We had lately refrained from engaging in media fights but we are constrained to respond to the recent misinformation being circulated by (IPMAN), Petroleum Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) and other associations.
“Both organisations claim that they can import PMS at lower prices than what is being sold by the Dangote Refinery. We benchmark our prices against international prices and we believe our prices are competitive relative to the price of imports,” Chiejina added.
Besides, he said anyone importing petrol at lower prices likely brings in substandard products, posing health and environmental risks.
Besides, he said the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), does not have laboratory facilities which can be used to detect substandard products when imported into the country.
“Post deregulation, NNPC set the pace by selling PMS to domestic marketers at N971 per litre for sale into ships and at N990 for sale into trucks. This set the benchmark for our pricing and we have even gone lower to sell at N960 per litre for sale into ships while maintaining N990 per litre for sale into trucks.
