As Nigerians grapple with prohibitive pump price of petrol and consequent spiraling inflation, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the President and Chief Executive of Dangote Refinery, repeats the call for removal of fuel subsidy.
The businessman asserted that the removal would determine the actual petrol consumption in the country.
Speaking in a 26-minute interview with Bloomberg Television in New York on Monday, he confirmed ownership of two oil blocks in the upstream sector with an expected production date of next month.
Dangote also stated that fuel production from his $20bn mega refinery in Lagos will help ease pressures on the naira.
Speaking further, he noted that ending petrol imports will have a huge upside in easing currency pressures.
According to him, “Subsidy is a very sensitive issue. Once you are subsidising something then people will bloat the price and then the government will end up paying what they are not supposed to be paying. It is the right time to get rid of subsidies.
“But this refinery will resolve a lot of issues out there, you know, it will show the real consumption of Nigeria, because, you know, nobody can tell you. Some people say 60 million litres of gasoline per day.
“Some say, it’s less. But right now, if you look at it by us producing, everything can be counted. So everything can be accounted for, particularly for most of the trucks or ships that will come to load from us. We are going to put a tracker on them to be sure they are going to take the oil within Nigeria, and that, I think, can help the government save quite a lot of money. I think it is the right time, you know, to remove the subsidy.”
On whether the subsidy will make the refinery viable, Dangote said, “Well, you see, we have a choice of either one. We produce, we export, and when we produce, we sell locally. But we are a big private company. And yes, it’s true, we have to make a profit. We build something worth $20bn so definitely we have to make money.
“The removal of subsidies is totally dependent on the government, not on us. We cannot change the price, but I think the government will have to give up something for something. So I think at the end of the day, this subsidy will have to go.”
