The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited has explained the reason behind its decision to reduce its stake in Dangote refinery to 7.2 per cent.
Chief Corporate Communications Officer of NNPC, Olufemi Soneye, in a recent interview on the Berekete Family Radio Programme, published on YouTube on Sunday.
Soneye said NNPC realised that Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is more affordable as a better energy alternative for Nigerians, so chose to rather reallocate its investment into projects across the country.
According to him, an average Nigerian can fill up his car with N10,000 with CNG, creating a huge investment opportunity in the energy space.
“The reason we reduced our stakes in Dangote Refinery is because we want to invest in CNG. We see that CNG is very cheap and all over the world people are investing in clean, cheaper, energy alternative.
“That’s why you see that NNPC is building different CNG stations across everywhere.
“Because we see that for N10,000, Nigerians can fill their cars and use it for two weeks. We realised that gas is cheaper in Nigeria, so why don’t we invest in it?,” Soneye added.
He restated NNPC’s non-involvement in any act of sabotage of the Dangote Refinery.
The corporation said it would be counterproductive for NNPC to undermine the plant, as doing so would be against its own interests, as it is a part-owner with substantial investment of billions of naira in the 650,000-barrel-per-day petrochemical plant.
The NNPC currently holds a stake of 7.2 per cent in the Dangote Refinery.
“As of today, we have 7.2% stake in the refinery. So why would we want to sabotage such a company?
“Now, on the issue Mr. Farouq raised, he doesn’t work for NNPC. Mr. Farouq Ahmed is the head of Nigeria’s mainstream and downstream petroleum regulatory authorities. They have power over all the refineries. Anything that has to with distribution of petrol, they are in charge. In fact, they are superior to us in that area. We don’t have anything to do with them,” Soneye stated.
