Dangote Refinery has disclosed its petrol prices following the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) claiming to be importing the products at cheaper rates compared to that of Dangote.
Tribune Online reports that an IPMAN official, in an interview with Arise News, said the oil marketers are buying at cheaper rates abroad while calling on Dangote Refinery to engage stakeholders.
But the refinery, in its reactions, disclosed that it petroleum products are soled into trucks at N990 per litre and N960 per litre into ships.
In a statement released Sunday night and signed by Anthony Chiejina, Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer, the refinery said it followed the pricing benchmark by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), adding that it go lower in pricing for selling into ships.
“At the same time, an international trading company has recently hired a depot facility next to the Dangote Refinery, with the objective of using it to blend substandard products that will be dumped into the market to compete with Dangote Refinery’s higher quality production.
“This is detrimental to the growth of domestic refining in Nigeria. We should point out that it is not unusual for countries to protect their domestic industries in order to provide jobs and grow the economy. For example, the US and Europe have had to impose high tariffs on EVs and microchips in order to protect their domestic industries,” the statement partly reads.
Continuing, Dangote noted that those claiming to be buying at cheaper rates compared to its refinery “are importing substandard products and conniving with international traders to dump low-quality products into the country, without concern for the health of Nigerians or the longevity of their vehicles. Unfortunately, the regulator (NMDPRA) does not even have laboratory facilities which can be used to detect substandard products when imported into the country.”
Credit: Nigerian Tribune