Starting in October, Dangote Petroleum Refinery will play a key role in setting petrol prices in Nigeria. Reports suggest the federal government may permit the refinery to determine its own gasoline prices, moving away from government regulation by Thursday.
It stated, “Nigeria will allow Dangote to set gasoline prices for petroleum marketers beginning next month,” sources informed Bloomberg. “Petrol marketers will soon be able to purchase directly from the Dangote Refinery.”
Commenting on the development, Temitope Ajayi, Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on Media and Publicity, confirmed that Dangote’s refinery will sell petrol at market rates.
Ajayi said, “Dangote Refinery, as a profit-driven enterprise, will not sell below market value. It is unlikely that NNPC or the federal government will control prices for a private business.
The role of the petroleum regulator will be to ensure product quality and fair pricing, safeguarding citizens from being exploited.”
Recall Tribune Online reported on Tuesday that Aliko Dangote, Chairman of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), announced that petrol production had officially commenced at the refinery.
Initially, Dangote stated that the pricing of petrol from his plant would be overseen by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
Meanwhile, Nigerians have been grappling with a prolonged petrol shortage with an end in sight and, recently, a pump price hike by the NNPC to N855 per liter at its retail outlets, causing long queues at filling stations.
Adedapo Segun, Executive Vice President of Downstream at NNPC, announced the company’s intention to supply more than 17.6 million barrels of crude oil to the Dangote Refinery over September and October. He also noted that current petrol prices do not yet align with market conditions, stressing the need for Nigeria to adopt market-driven pricing to encourage competition.
