Aliko Dangote says the Dangote Refinery will continue to sell premium motor spirit, otherwise known as fuel, at a “reasonable” price.
The Chairman of the Dangote Group spoke to reporters after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the State House in Abuja on Friday.
“Prices are going down. The reason why prices have to go down is that we also have to compete with imports. But you know, luckily for us, now smuggling has reduced, not totally. There is still quite a lot of smuggling, you know, because the price we have in Nigeria is about 55% of the price of our neighboring countries,” the serial entrepreneur said after the meeting.
“So, it doesn’t matter how you police the borders, people will still smuggle because there’s so much money to be made. You know, they are selling at almost 1,500, 1,600 [per litre], but we’re selling at about 800 and something. So it is bound to do this. But petroleum products, both diesel and gasoline, which is PMS, will continue to be sold in the market at a very reasonable price.”
The 650,000-barrel-a-day refinery built by the billionaire Aliko Dangote began producing diesel and aviation fuel in January 2024. However, it started delivering petrol in September of the same year, in a move industry experts said was a game-changer for the oil-rich country that frequently faces gasoline shortages.
Despite spending an estimated $20bn for the facility sitting on 2,635 hectares (6,500 acres) of land at the Lekki Free Zone in Lagos, Dangote says he is not out to make the money back “quickly”.
“We are not here to make our 20 billion back quickly. You know, it’s a long-term investment,” the 68-year-old Kano-born business tycoon said.
“What do we really want to leave as a legacy? So the legacy that I want to leave behind is to see that whatever Nigeria needs, we will be part of that delivery.”
“We discussed about economy, the environment, and all. It was a very nice, fruitful meeting,” he said
