By Ihechi Enyinnaya
Aliko Dangote, President and Chief Executive of Dangote Group, addressed the persistent issue of fuel queues in Nigeria during a briefing with State House reporters in Abuja. He urged the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and local marketers to cease fuel imports.
Dangote expressed confidence that his refinery could alleviate the ongoing fuel crisis. “Our estimated daily consumption is about 30-32 million liters, which we can start producing as early as next week. We currently have 500 million liters in our tanks, enough to sustain the country for over 12 days without any production or imports,” he stated.
“We are fully prepared to supply 30 million liters per day and are ramping up our operations. I expect the NNPCL and marketers to stop importing and collect their fuel from us. Holding half a billion liters in our tanks is costly; I’m losing money daily due to interest rates. If they come to collect, we can eliminate the queues at filling stations.”
This statement follows the federal government’s recent policy to sell crude oil to Dangote Refinery in naira instead of U.S. dollars, aimed at stabilizing domestic fuel prices and strengthening the naira by reducing dollar dependency in oil transactions.