Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote has blamed the current fuel scarcity in the country on retailers.
To buttress his claims, Dangote said over 500 million litres of fuel is stored in his tank farm ready for the market, but the retailers meant to buy and distribute the products are not coming forward to pick it up.
Dangote made the allegations on Tuesday, shortly after key stakeholders in the oil and gas sector met with President Bola Tinubu in a bid to address the lingering fuel scarcity despite a hike in the commodity.
According to Dangote, his refinery has the capacity to produce more than 30 million litres of fuel daily but since he is not in the business of retailing, the products cannot get to Nigerians who need it because the retailers are not coming to pick it.
He lamented that he is running at a loss by storing huge stocks of fuel in tanks, while Nigerians are groaning in the streets without stocks.
Speaking to State House Correspondents after the meeting, Dangote said,
"Yes, we have enough supply of crude, we can actually produce much more than 30 million litres every day. At full capacity, we can even supply whatever is being consumed. But what I estimated as consumption, which I believe may be about 30, 32 million that one we can even start producing by next week.
"It is not really an issue, because, as we speak today, we have 500 million liters, you know, in our tanks. So 500 million liters in our tanks even if there's no production from anybody or no imports. This will take the country more than 12 days, you know, with no imports, with no production, nothing.
"So we are very ready. We are more than ready. And you know, I'm also putting my own name on the line by giving Mr President my word that, yes, we will be able to supply the market a minimum 30 million litres per day, and we'll be ramping up. So we're ready. We're more than ready".
But when asked about the rationality of having millions of litres of fuel products in his tank farm that can last for 12 days but the common man on the street has no access to the product easily, Dangote burst out saying,
"Well, you know on the streets, one thing that you have to understand is that we are producers.
"I have a refinery. I'm not in the business of retail. If I'm in the business of retail then you hold me responsible. But what I'm saying is that the retailers should please come forward and pick, if they don't, come forward and pick, what do you want me to do? That's something that I can do. So I don't expect either NNPC or the marketers to stop importing, they should come and pick because we have what they need.
"And you know, as they remove, I will be pumping. I don't know whether you understand what it takes to keep half a billion litres inside our tank. It's costing me money every day. If I will be able to collect the naira, I can actually charge somebody 32% in interest. So right now, that's what I'm losing. And you are talking about 500 million, you know, I mean, we don't print money. But the issue is that if they come and collect then you will not see any queues in the filling stations.
"We have what it takes for them to come and collect. We are not retailers. We also don't have trucks to send. We have a factory, we have where they can load. If they come and pick the ones...and they have been doing that with importation. So if they've been doing that with importation, if it's true, they are doing 55 million, I see no reason why they won't come and collect our own and distribute".
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