The Natural Oil and Gas Suppliers Association of Nigeria, NOGASA, has urged President Bola Tinubu to advise Dangote Refinery boss, Aliko Dangote, to discontinue the plan to directly distribute premium motor spirit and automotive gas oil (diesel) nationwide.
NOGASA National President, Bennett Okorie, made the call during the association’s Annual General Meeting held on Thursday in Abuja.
According to him, Dangote Refinery’s planned petroleum products initiative would lead to loss of jobs and cause disruption in the country’s downstream oil sector.
Okorie said, “If Dangote Refinery follows that path and comes August 15, 2025, as projected, the $20 billion refinery may end up like the Nigerian government-owned refineries in Port Harcourt, Kaduna, and Warri managed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
“We are pleading that Mr. President should intervene in this matter by telling Dangote to slow down and go by the rules of the game. Nobody’s against the refinery.
“Now, some Nigerians will be thinking maybe it’s because we don’t want him to do this or because of competition. No, it is because we don’t want what happened to NNPCL to happen to Dangote Refinery. The reason is that, before now, NNPC refined products and distributed them through their subsidiary at that time.
“And everything was moving smoothly; it wasn’t bad. Until people who I think advised Dangote today went to advise NNPC to start doing distribution directly, which is the filling station that you have in NNPC filling stations. As soon as this NNPC filling station started, that was when our refinery started going down,” Okorie.
Meanwhile, Dangote Refinery has dismissed NOGASA’s position.
The refinery confirmed that it has taken delivery of 4,000 new compressed natural gas-powered tankers to facilitate the petrol products distribution scheme nationwide.
