23/07/2024
23/07/2024

ABUJA, Nigeria, July 23, (AP): Nigerian legislators on Monday began an investigation into the alleged importation of contaminated fuel into the country, part of efforts to resolve issues causing a rift between an oil refinery owned by Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote and the industry regulator.
A legislative committee tasked with carrying out the probe is also looking into allegations of the "indiscriminate issuance of licenses and the alleged unavailability of international standard laboratories” blamed for such contaminated products, its chairman, Ikenga Ugochinyere, said in the capital of Abuja.
The committee called on parties in Nigeria’s petroleum sector to "deescalate tensions” that have been deepened in recent weeks by accusations from the regulator that Dangote was seeking a monopoly in the market and that his refinery’s products are of a low standard.
Nigeria’s junior petroleum minister Heineken Lokpobiri, meanwhile, met with Dangote and officials from the country’s petroleum sector in what he called a "collaborative effort” to address the issues facing the refinery.
"All parties involved demonstrated a strong commitment to proactive problem-solving,” the minister said after the meeting in a post on social media platform X.
The 650,000-barrels-per-day refinery in the economic hub of Lagos is the biggest in Africa and was touted by authorities as a game-changer that would end the oil-rich country’s dependence on imported petrol.
However, the $19 billion facility has been off to a slow start despite opening more than a year ago. It has had to source crude oil from other countries after failing to secure supplies in Nigeria, whose capacity as one of Africa’s biggest oil producers has been impeded by oil theft and chronic corruption.
A senior executive of the refinery has also accused international oil companies in Nigeria of plotting the refinery’s failure. "It is either they are deliberately asking for a ridiculous premium or they simply state that crude is not available,” Devakumar Edwin, a vice-president of Dangote Industries, said of the companies.