By Our Reporter
•Says local refineries’ll buy crude at local price
•Plans one million barrels/day refining capacity through direct, JV investment
•Insists petrol can sell at N605/litre
Accord Party Presidential candidate, Dr Gbenga Hashim, has declared that under an Accord Party administration, Nigerian refineries will have access to Nigerian crude at a strategic domestic price, giving them the cost advantage to compete aggressively in the sub-regional markets and transform Nigeria into a global energy power.
Hashim has also promised to deliver cheaper petrol to Nigerians.
The Accord Party presidential candidate made the declaration at the weekend, in Ilorin, Kwara State, during the Diaspora Dialogue, when he spoke on Fuel Subsidy and the Politics of 2027; anchored by Prof. Farooq Kperogi, Prof. Moses Ochonu and Dr. Osmund Agbo.
Hashim spoke against the backdrop of rising petrol prices and growing pressure on global energy markets.
He said Nigeria’s greatest economic mistake has been to treat crude oil primarily as an export commodity instead of using it as the foundation of National Industrial Power.
“Nigeria has spent decades giving the world our crude and buying back the value created from it. Our Energy First policy will reverse that equation.
“Our crude is our strategic advantage. We will put that advantage behind Nigerian industry. Refining and petrochemical industries are a core part of our immediate industrialisation strategy as we aim to be the world most reliable energy source.”
Hashim also added that Dangote Refinery and other qualifying Nigerian refineries would be able to access Nigerian crude under a strategic domestic pricing framework rather than being treated simply as foreign buyers competing for an internationally-traded commodity.
“If the crude is Nigerian and the refinery is Nigerian, the Nigerian economy must capture the advantage.
“Our refineries will buy Nigerian crude at a strategic local price, not international crude economics so they can produce competitively, expand aggressively and conquer international markets starting first with the African region.”
Hashim stressed that the policy would not be designed to favour any single company.
“This is not a Dangote subsidy. It is a Nigerian industrial strategy.
“Dangote will benefit because it has invested at extraordinary scale. Other existing refineries will benefit. New refineries will benefit. Any Nigerian refinery that meets the required efficiency, transparency and performance standards will have access to the same framework.
“We are not creating one protected champion. We are going to create an army of Nigerian energy champions.”
Hashim said an Accord Party government would also use direct government investment and strategic joint ventures to expand Nigeria’s domestic refining capacity by an additional one million barrels per day within three years.
He said the objective is not simply to produce more petrol, but to establish Nigeria as Africa’s leading refining and petrochemical hub.
“We want to be Africa’s refining and petrochemical hub, not just a huge crude exporter.
“We will use government investment strategically and deploy joint ventures where necessary to expand refining capacity, deepen petrochemical production and ensure that Nigerian crude creates value in Nigeria before it is exported,” he said.
According to Hashim, Nigeria must move beyond the ambition of becoming merely self sufficient in refined petroleum products to becoming a country whose energy companies compete and win globally.
“We don’t want Dangote merely to dominate the Nigerian refining market. We want Dangote to compete with the world’s biggest energy companies. It started doing this by being the largest supplier of aviation fuel to Europe in the last few months.
“We want Nigerian refineries supplying Africa. We want Nigerian petrochemicals companies competing globally. We want Nigerian energy traders operating internationally”
“We want Nigerian companies to shape the global energy market.”
Hashim said the local crude strategy must be matched by a dramatic increase in Nigeria’s crude production.
He has proposed recovering approximately 3,000 shut-in and non-producing wells and raising National crude production towards 4 million barrels per day within 24 months of an Accord Party administration.
“It makes no economic sense for a country, with thousands of oil wells sitting idle to behave as though crude is scarce.
“We will recover commercially viable shut-in wells, restore production infrastructure, improve evacuation and security, and bring Nigeria’s lost barrels back into the economy.”
But Hashim said the additional barrels must not simply become additional exports.
“The real question is not whether Nigeria can produce four million barrels. The real question is; what will Nigeria do with four million barrels? Under our Energy First policy, we will use those barrels to power Nigerian industry.”
Hashim also doubled down on his proposed ₦605 per litre petrol price within the broader Energy First philosophy, adding that Nigeria should reduce energy costs by reducing the underlying cost of production and expanding productive capacity rather than permanently subsidising consumption.
“₦605 is not our destination. It is a starting point in a transition from subsidising consumption to building productive capacity.
“We want to make energy cheaper because Nigeria produces more, refines more and captures more value, not because government endlessly pays the difference.”
He said the long term objective is to bring petrol prices down towards ₦200–₦300 per litre as crude production rises, domestic refining expands, efficiency improves and logistics costs fall.
“The cheaper energy we are promising Nigerians will not be based on accounting magic.
“It will come from producing more, refining more, wasting less and capturing more value within Nigeria.”
Hashim said refining should only be the beginning of Nigeria’s energy transformation.
“We must stop thinking of petroleum as petrol.
“The crude beneath our soil can become petrol, diesel, aviation fuel, lubricants, plastics, fertiliser feedstock, petrochemicals and thousands of industrial products.
“That is where the real economic transformation lies.”
He said an Energy First government would, therefore, build an integrated energy industrial ecosystem around Nigerian crude and gas, supported by pipelines, ports, storage, electricity, transportation, security and predictable regulation.
“Government will build the ecosystem. Nigerian entrepreneurs will build the companies. Nigerian companies will conquer the markets.”
“Our job is to make Nigerian energy companies less dependent on Nigeria’s limitations.”
Hashim said the emergence of the Dangote Refinery has demonstrated that Nigerian capital can operate at global scale.
“Dangote has shown the world what Nigerian capital can build. Now Nigeria needs a government with the ambition to match that investment.
“Our job is not to make Dangote dependent on government. Our job is to make Dangote less dependent on Nigeria’s limitations.
“We want to give Nigerian energy companies the crude advantage, infrastructure, policy certainty and strategic support required to compete anywhere in the world.”
Hashim said the ultimate objective of Energy First is to change Nigeria’s position in the global energy economy.
“For decades, the world bought Nigerian crude and created wealth from it elsewhere.
“Energy First will ensure that Nigerian crude creates Nigerian industries, Nigerian companies, Nigerian jobs and Nigerian global champions.
“Local crude. Local refining. Global products. Global markets. Nigerian companies. Global energy power.”