President Bola Tinubu has been urged by the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) to support the Dangote refinery and investigate its officials’ claims that some foreign oil companies were planning to sabotage its success.
The unions expressed their deep concern and shock over recent allegations by the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals Company.
The company had raised the alarm over a deliberate plot by some international oil companies to thwart its business efforts and continued existence in a letter dated July 1 and addressed to the president through his chief of staff, Femi Gbajabiamila.
The letter, which was jointly signed by Lumumba Okugbawa, the secretary of PENGASSAN, and Olawale Afolabi, the secretary of NUPENG, stated that the purported sabotage actions included forcing the refinery to source crude oil from other countries, which comes with high operating costs and logistics, and denying the refinery access to crude oil supply.
The petroleum workers also asked the federal government to form an impartial commission to look into the allegations of sabotage made by certain IOCs.
They insisted that the probe be thorough and open in order to hold all parties responsible.
In order to preserve openness and public confidence, they also insisted that the investigation’s results be made publicly available, arguing that Nigerians have a right to know the truth about the IOCs’ acts and how they affected the country’s interests.
Petrol sales at the $20 billion Dangote refinery in Lekki, Lagos State, are anticipated to start shortly.
Aliko Dangote, the president of the Dangote Group, declared that his refinery would no longer import refined petroleum products into Nigeria or any other country in Africa.
The business is worried about IOCs’ purported refusal to sell crude to the refinery, though.
The vice president of Oil and Gas at Dangote Industries Limited, Devakumar Edwin, stated recently:
TimesNow.com.ng earlier reported that S&P Global, an international financial analytics company, stated that Nigeria’s foreign exchange (forex) problem and the significant pressure on the local naira currency can be resolved by the Dangote Oil Refinery and Petrochemicals company.
The firm, headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, stated this during a visit to Dangote Refinery in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos.
According to S&P, Nigeria’s oil industry and expanding economy would benefit from the world’s largest single-train refinery complex.
Proofreading by James Ojo Adakole, journalist and copy editor at TimesNow.com.ng.
Source: TimesNow.com.ng
