Rita Odafe
The House of Representatives leadership, led by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, recently visited the Dangote Petroleum refinery in Lagos State, which is worth $20 billion.
Upon their arrival at the refinery situated in the Lekki Free Trade Zone in Lagos, they were welcomed by Aliko Dangote, the President of the Dangote Group, and key company executives.
During the visit, the lawmakers are scheduled to tour the 650,000 barrels per day refinery and discuss the commencement of petrol supply next month.
This visit is the House of Representatives’ second visit to the refinery this year, following a visit by the Senate leadership, headed by Senate President Godswill Akpaio, in June.
The lawmakers’ visit comes after Farouk Ahmed, the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Authority, raised concerns about the high sulphur content in the diesel produced by the Dangote refinery.
Ahmed emphasized the need for Nigeria not to solely depend on one refinery for its petroleum product supply and highlighted that the Dangote refinery has not received licensing yet and is still in the pre-commissioning phase.
He cautioned against the idea of suspending import licenses for other marketers to allow Dangote to be the sole supplier, emphasizing the importance of energy security and avoiding market monopolies.
Ahmed also pointed out discrepancies in the quality of petroleum products, stating that the imported products meet West African sulfur requirements of 50 ppm, while Dangote and other refineries produce between 650 to 1,200 ppm, indicating inferior quality.
