It is a year already since the Dangote Refinery was commissioned. It is a year since the visionary industrialist, Aliko Dangote, courageously stepped forward to rescue the nation from the chokehold of NNPCL and its allies in the petroleum business and the booty of oil subsidy. In his speech marking one year of his plant roaring into production, Aliko Dangote confidently assured the nation that it was bye-bye to perennial fuel shortages and resultant endless queues at petrol filling stations.
Tempers flaring up and the attendant bully and test of skills and strength in pugilism over whose turn it is to fill his fuel tank or be served in kegs will henceforth be history.
When the signs appeared in the horizon that the refinery was ready, Aliko was dragged into a thick forest of criticisms where demonic arrows of fear and discouragement were fired at him. For Dangote, however, there was no looking back; there was no backing down. As our people say, forward ever, backward never.
The dictum was his elixir. He marches on courageously on the route lined by determined and unrelenting foes who, in an attempt to pour cold water on his spirit, said the premium motor spirit (PMS) gushing out of his pipes, did not meet the essential pre-requisite laboratory tests.
Now that he is getting a grasp of the technicalities, the field in general and the factory cost prices are inexorably coming down, some sectors of the industry are up in arms, complaining that the resultant drop in pump selling prices is inimical to their business!! See the battle ground that was created to engulf him!
There is the hogwash story that has lingered for years that he is an industrialist taking giants steps and making waves because he is connected in high places; they seek to downplay his business acumen, his resourcefulness, his unwavering personal application to meet set goals, his effulgent dignity and above all, his disarming humility.
I did state at a time in these pages that Aliko Dangote could not have been the only person who has been connected in high places, of what beneficial use have others made of their own connection? In any case, is it not stated in Proverbs 22:29 (Dake’s Annotated Bible): ‘Seest thou a man that is diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings. He shall not stand before mean men”. Aliko Dangote has saved the country from the shame and embarrassment of an oil producing country experiencing fuel scarcity. A case of what Taylor Coleridge describes in his poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner ‘Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink’.
The Refinery, a $19 billion project, was inaugurated on 22 May, 2023 and it has production capacity of 650, 000 barrels a day. It began operations in January last year, 2024 but was commissioned in August, saving the country $20 billion yearly in refined oil import bills.
This not only boosts the inflow of foreign currencies, it also stabilizes the forex market as it helps to ease pressure on the Central Bank. Petroleum imports accounted for 40 per cent of foreign spendings from oil sales revenue. Within 50 days of its operation, the Dangote Refinery exported about one million tonnes of fuel (PMS) to other countries.
This translates to 27 million litres exported daily and 1, 350 billion litres during the period. The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics report indicates that Nigeria spent N1.76 trillion on fuel importation in the first quarter of this year, representing a sharp drop of 46.68 per cent of the spending in the previous quarter. Thanks to Aliko Dangote miracle!
In Dangote’s words: ‘Today, Nigeria has actually become a net exporter of refined products’. He was speaking in Abuja on 22 July at the Global Commodity Insights Conference on West African Refined Fuel Markets. This was even before the official commissioning the following month.
Apart from fuel, other products being exported by the Refinery are aviation fuel and diesel. The destination markets are Europe, America, Asian countries and Saudi Arabia; and of course, West African countries. The complex which is planned to be listed on Lagos and London stock exchange has accommodation for the production of fertilisers as well. The fertilizer plant, too, is to be listed.
There are four publicly owned refineries in the country. There are two in Port Harcourt one of which is meant to cater for export of Nigerian refined oil product. The two others apart from the second one in Port Harcourt meant for domestic energy needs are in Warri and Kaduna. Despite the government sinking humongous sums of money into rehabilitating the refineries, they did not work and still are not in production mood.
The sum of $1.5 billion (US Dollars) was spent in fixing the Port Harcourt Refinery alone but all the efforts were unavailing. Shortly after claims of it coming back to life last year, it was shut for routine maintenance, but it has not been revived again since then. Indeed, a report says about $18 billion has gone into Turn Around Maintenance of the refineries (TAM) since 2010 but it has been the same old story; in poor state since then.
How was the country going to cope if Dangote Refinery had not come on stream? Buhari’s Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed had said the outgoing Administration did not include fuel subsidy in its budget of 2023-2024 to be handed over to incoming President Bola Tinubu because there was no money.
Tinubu in his ill-considered and ill-timed pronouncement announced the scrapping of oil subsidy even before he could, self-evidently, look into the books. All he could have done was to get Dangote to put him in confidence on when his refinery was going to roar into production. As it turned out the refinery had barely 15 months to go, to come on stream. If there was no money left in the kitty, you borrow– to tidy over the season. After all, desirous of taking credit for the Dangote elixir of Nigerian economic life, Buhari hastily commissioned the giant plant still six months away!
The return of Port Harcourt and Warri celebrated with fanfare with Mele Kyari’s beating of the chest turned out to be false propaganda and a hoax former President Olusegun Obasanjo predicted they were. It was kicking Bola Tinubu in the groin! Remember Bola Tinubu’s hope-filled exultation in his epistle to Mele Kyari! We should have suspected from Kyari’s constant failing of production timeline promises.
In a triumphal celebrative mood, Dangote addressed an audience in Lagos at the weekend. The audience gathered for a conference in celebration of the Refinery’s one-year anniversary–the biggest refinery in the world–and to listen to the company’s report card read by no one than Aliko, the President of Dangote conglomerate himself. He said the initial phase of the company’s direct fuel distribution initiative involved the deployment of trucks. He said, ‘despite opposition and economic headwinds, the refinery has successfully reduced the price of petrol from nearly N1, 100 before production began to N841 in the South-West, Abuja, Delta, Rivers, Edo and Kwara.
‘The journey has been challenging because we sought to transform the downstream sector in Nigeria. Some believed we were taking food from their tables, which simply isn’t true. What we have done is to make our country and continent proud. Previously, only two African countries were not importing petrol, but regrettably, they have since resumed imports. This is detrimental to Africa.
‘The deployment of 4,000 CNG-powered trucks is expected to create at least 24,000 jobs across Nigeria. We have not displaced any jobs; we are creating many more’ so says the report card. It continues: ‘The CNG trucks will not be operated by robots.
‘Our employees earn salaries three times the minimum wage, life insurance, health insurance covering themselves, their spouses, and up to four children, as well as a lifelong pension. We are not only employing drivers but also mechanics, fleet managers, and other professionals to support the CNG fleet. Nigeria has now become the refining hub of Africa.
We are set to become the largest exporter of polypropylene and are aiming to make Nigeria the world’s leading producer of fertiliser. These initiatives will generate substantial foreign exchange, create employment, and stimulate growth in other sectors.
‘We are fully committed to supporting the government in adding value, creating jobs, and building a stronger economy. Other nations were not industrialised by outsiders. We must build and industrialise our own economies. Without this, how can others invest? That is why I believe the National Assembly should enact legislation to support the Federal Government’s ‘Nigeria First’ policy.
‘My goal is to see Africa prosper, as we have the fastest-growing population in the world. Relying on imports means exporting jobs and importing poverty. Many individuals with greater financial resources than myself want to invest, but the challenges we face discourage them. Numerous sectors are still in need of industrialisation’.
What do we say to a man with clarity of thoughts and who is using his immense endowments to aid his fellowmen in their material aspirations so they can focus on life’s journey through earthly school driven by exertions for the fulfilment of the true purpose of life without distractions, a purpose that is no other than that which is spiritual?
Shedding the Light of Truth on work ethics for employees and the blessings for employers, Abd-ru-shin states in His matchless Work, the Grail Message: “A man who does not pile up riches needlessly just for self-gratification, but who uses them aright by revaluing them for the benefit of many, is much greater and worthier than one who gives all his wealth away. He stands much higher in Creation because he furthers it.
‘Through his wealth such a man is able to provide employment for thousands during the whole earth-life, thereby giving them the satisfaction of having earned their own living, which strengthens and supports them both spiritually and physically. It is quite natural, of course, that a correct attitude must be preserved as regards work and rest, as also in giving the right remuneration for all work done, so that a strict and just equilibrium is upheld.
‘That assures movement in Creation, which is indispensable to healthy development and harmony. A one-sided giving away without asking for an equivalent value, however, is contrary to the Laws of Creation, and only brings stagnation and disorders as can be seen in everything, including our physical bodies, where lack of movement causes a thickening and stagnation of the blood, because only movement permits the blood to flow more freely and purely through the veins.
‘Man finds this law of essential movement everywhere, in a thousand different forms, but always the same in basic principle. It arises with every individual happening and yet in its reciprocal action it works harmoniously throughout Creation, through all the spheres. Even the spirit needs uninterruptedly to obey this law if it wishes to continue in existence, remain strong and soar upwards!
‘There is nothing without this law! Movement everywhere in an absolute balance of give and take!’
In the Work it is also stated: ‘He who allows himself to be dominated by his wealth shall not have it either, for it does not serve him, but serves only that person who controls it, for in the latter’s hand it will also bring benefits! He shall possess it, because he knows how to help himself and many others with it, thereby maintaining and furthering movement in Creation’.
