NNPCL and the naked dance over pricing of Dangote petrol?

By Ifeanyi Izeze

We all want a better Nigeria for everyone, but regrettably, we are not getting what we want. Worse still, a bunch of privileged crooks joyfully derive pleasure in taking Nigerians for a harsh ride in the evil forest. It is evident that between the Federal Government and NNPCL, somebody or both are not telling us the whole truth about their ongoing dance of shame in the public space against Dangote Refinery.

The truth remains that the NNPC and the FG have yet to cooperate. Why can’t we get efficiency or even the slightest truth from the NNPC over the years?

Let’s look at where we are coming from in this Dangote-FG/NNPCL supposed variance: First, it was a huge celebration when former President Gen Mohammadu Buhari commissioned the Dangote refinery project. Then we moved to celebrate the anticipated crash of fuel prices since we now produce locally, even though from a private refinery.

Then Bola Tinubu took over in May 2023, and we started hearing that NNPCL was reducing its stake in the Dangote refinery project despite previously telling Nigerians the company raised over $2 billion to invest in the project as a shareholder.

From there, we moved to hear from NNPCL that it is considering divesting entirely from the project. Then Dangote rolled out diesel from the plant. Instead of celebrations, both the NNPCL and all the government upstream and downstream regulatory agencies, particularly the Nigerian Midstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NMPRC), came after Dangote with the story that his diesel was off-spec for our domestic consumption and would not be allowed to sell in our domestic market.

To safeguard NNPC interests, the government moved to muscle and bully Dangote. First, they raided Dangote Refinery, accusing him of foreign exchange laundering. Then, they denied him crude oil for his refinery, so Dangote started buying crude oil from the United States of America. They later alleged that Dangote Refinery’s product(diesel) was substandard.

When the bullying was getting too much, in what was a fight back by either the management of Dangote refinery and sympathizers on their ordeals in the hands of government officials, including NNPCL, Tinubu’s Malta-based refinery and blending plants and the crude round tripping was exposed. What followed was a plethora of denials, cover-ups, and even threats to everybody who dared comment on the Malta refinery/Blending Plant to expose` including my very self.

ALSO READ: NNPC’s Absurdities: Where is Mele Kyari deriving this audacity?

We moved from there to the NNPCL, insisting that Dangote buy its crude in dollars and claiming it is a global practice. Dangote cried wolf, and all of us were railroaded to cry on its behalf.

Then, the government agreed to sell the crude to the refinery in Naira but gave October 1st as the earliest date NNPC will be able to commence supplying crude to the refinery.

Fast forward to the refinery churning out petrol. A few days after the refinery’s announced debut of its petrol to the Nigerian market and Dangote selling to the Nigerian market, viaam, the government released an upwardly reviewed price template for gasoline across the country.

It was a perfect plot to get Dangote to sell the product at a higher price than it should (which would give NNPC a window of profit margin when they eventually import fuel).

As a result, Consumers’ interest was undermined by NNPCL incompetence and corruption.

In a dramatic turn of events, the government now forced Dangote not to sell petrol directly to Marketers and that the company should allow NNPC to be the only off-taker of PMS(petrol) from the plant. From there, we moved to the issue of how much the NNPC pays for the petrol it off-takes from the plant and who should be blamed for the current high Price that the NNPC is asking Nigerians to pay for the petrol it gets from the Dangote Refinery in Lekki, Lagos.

Dangote is not allowed to announce his price to the public, and he is not allowed to sell directly to marketers—he is technically caged. What kind of a thing is this?

They set up two traps for him: the first was Quality, and the second was Price.

For Quality, they aimed to tarnish the refinery’s reputation by portraying its products as substandard and the refinery itself as inferior. They planned a major propaganda campaign to spread this negative narrative, starting with local media and extending internationally.

The government masked its true intentions by claiming it protected Nigerians from potential extortion and alleging that Dangote Refinery might set excessively high prices. Their goal was to artificially raise Dangote’s fuel price, allowing oil marketers to raise their prices to the same level, over 1000 Naira, which the government and NNPC have been targeting since the current administration took office. They planned to blame Dangote Refinery for the price hike then.

Once again, Dangote managed to evade the trap. He quickly launched a media campaign before the scheme could unfold, educating Nigerians about the situation. He emphasized that while Dangote Refinery controls and guarantees the oil quality, they have no control over pricing.

He clarified that NNPC is responsible for setting the prices and that NNPC, not Dangote, determines any price seen.

The question all well-meaning Nigerians should have been asking is: Where is Nigeria’s substantive Petroleum Minister, who also doubles as the President and Commander-in-Chief, in all these shows of shame by the state-owned oil concern against a tangible feat (Dangote Refinery) that could have called for celebration in this country?

Dangote refinery has become an albatross and a pain in the neck of those who refine Nigerian crude in Malta, import it to Nigeria, and collect subsidy payments for their efforts.

The criminal oil cabal in Nigeria is trying to bend the Dangote refinery to shift ground or join them to maintain the status quo ante, pure and simple!

All the bickering by the FG\NNPCL and Tinubu’s government boils down to a battle of Appropriate pricing of Petroleum products in Nigeria, breaking the bondage of oil cabals in Nigeria, and putting a permanent stop to oil subsidy payments to criminal petroleum products importers for subsidy payments; conserving foreign exchange for Nigeria; creating value for money; and opening up the nation’s oil and gas sector to new and credible entrants.

The battle is also about foiling insider abuses by top NNPCL management and their cronies at the Presidency regarding the useless, meaningless, and dubious turnaround maintenance services of Nigeria’s three and a half exiting nameplate refineries in the past years, without any of them functioning.

The fight is real. It concerns who controls Nigeria’s oil and gas sector in the 21st century. Dangote refinery took them unawares, and the plot is not ready to give up without a dirty fight caused by conspiracies and sabotage.

The current harassment of the NLC leadership may not be unconnected with the ongoing oil war between Dangote refinery and the government of Nigeria, with the recent increase in petrol prices that NLC and Nigerians are challenging. Nigerians are waiting for a showdown either way.

ALSO READ: NNPCL/Dangote Refinery and Absurdity of Offshore Sourcing of Crude Feedstock

In all these back-and-forth exchanges between Dangote Refinery and the NNPC, why has President Tinubu not uttered a word to at least douse tension and reassure Nigerians of his sincerity and neutrality in all the fiery darts that have been flying around?

Nigerians are not all fools! How do you explain that in October 2022, NNPC Retail Limited bought Oando filling stations and assets for over USD324 million? By August 2024, the same NNPC Retail Ltd dissolved itself and handed over its affairs to OVH, owners of the same Oando. And then, by September 2024, the NNPC will be the sole buyer of Dangote Petrol and the sole determinant of how much Nigerians in different parts of the country pay for a liter of petrol.

Who is the genuine wholesale off-taker/buyer of the petrol from Dangote Refinery?

Is it not NNPC Retail?

And who is NNPCL Retail now deciding how much Nigerians pay for Dangote petrol? Is it not Oando?

So, there is something we still need to understand better: Tinubu, the petroleum minister and owner of Oando/OVH, wins this shameful dance. The losers are Nigerians, including those who think they are better off than most. God pass all of them!

• Izeze is a National Daily Columnist and can be reached via [email protected] (234-8033043009 SMS only)