Nigeria is said to own 10 small petroleum refineries in different parts of the country. Six of these refineries are owned by private companies while four of them are owned by the Federal Government. Two of them are located in Port Harcourt, one in Warri and one in Kaduna. For more than 10 years these four refineries have remained dormant, dead like dodo and Nigerians have been wondering when they will resurrect like Lazarus. Every year Nigerians cry for petrol; they sleep at petrol stations; they buy petrol when it is available at cut-throat prices while the four government owned refineries remained refineries only in name. They refined nothing. Yet we had governments that we voted for in the hope that they would take care of our interests but they failed woefully to do the needful. This situation went on for more than 10years. We did not ask our leaders to either get the refineries working or they should resign. We permitted them to just stay there and chop non-stop. Is that evidence of the failure of followership? In my opinion it is. Where were our labour unions, our student unions, our NGOs? They were all sleeping either because of absentmindedness or partisanship.
Then came the Dangote refinery owned by one man named Aliko Dangote. This gentleman began his business career in a small way in 1978 trading in rice, sugar and cement before he ventured into manufacturing. He now has investments in 17 African countries and is obviously the market leader in cement in Africa. These achievements have been recognised globally. In 2013 Forbes listed him as the Most Powerful Man in Africa and in April 2014 TIME magazine listed him as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the world.
Then the man saw a niche in our petroleum business and decided that he could fill that gap admirably for the benefit of Nigerians. He set up a 20 billion dollar refinery in Nigeria, one of the biggest refineries in the world. Any sensible country would be eminently proud of a man who took the risk of making such a massive investment in his country especially when its existing refineries had failed to meet the consumption needs of the country. So Nigeria became a country of odious irony, a country that exports crude oil but imports refined petroleum products at exorbitant, exploitative and inflated costs. So these shylock importers of refined fuel got angry when Dangote’s refinery was commissioned. They thought that Dangote was coming to pour sand into their plate of garri. They thought of different devilish ways of frustrating Dangote by suggesting that Dangote’s refinery was going to be a monopoly. How can it be a monopoly when there are 10 other refineries in the country? Then came Mr Farouk Ahmed, the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority who alleged that Dangote’s refinery was producing substandard products. The company refuted the claim. I see the role of the regulator as two-fold (a) To protect consumers (b) To foster business growth in the country. Ahmed’s attempt to protect the consumer was noble but he did not provide any information to enable the public make a fair judgement. In other words, what he did lacked transparency because he provided no information to back his allegation. He failed in his second duty namely helping the growth of business in Nigeria. The Asian Tigers grew to become Little Dragons because of the support they got from the system in their countries. That is how the four of them namely Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan achieved remarkable industralisation and economic prowess. Nigeria can only rise to the level of a tiger nation in economic terms if the regulators and other government agencies support the growth of mega companies. A 20 billion dollar investment qualifies as a national interest project that ought to be supported and protected by government and its agencies. Regulators must not be allowed to operate as dictators. Their activities must be monitored and regulated too so that they do not engage in parochial activities that are antithetical to the progress of the country.
How Dangote is treated seems to reflect that a prophet does not always have honour in his home. Now, the President of Gabon, Brica Oligui Nguema is asking the Dangote Group to come and invest in the cement and fertilizer sectors in Gabon. The President noted that collaboration with the Dangote Group will bolster the country’s industrial landscape.
Nigeria has been held to ransome by insensitive importers of petroleum products for several years now. With the commissioning of the Dangote refinery and the revival of two of the Federal Government owned refineries their days are numbered. It is appropriate to praise Mr Mele Kyari for reviving the two refineries. We expect him to work hard to revive the remaining two so that Nigerians can have a fairer deal in petroleum matters as citizens of a major oil producing country.
The Federal and State Governments must do everything in their power to encourage investors to come and invest in Nigeria. That means that they must create a favourable investment climate for big investors to come. That will also prevent investors who are already here from de-investing and moving away to other countries. The kind of treatment given to Dangote must be reversed. Every investment in an unstable economy like ours is a big risk. People must be encouraged to take that risk. That is the only way we can grow our economy.
Alhaji Aliko Dangote had planned to invest in Nigeria’s steel industry. Now he says that he will halt his investment plan in that sector to avoid being accused of wanting to be a monopolist. Nigeria had made a major investment in steel at Ajaokuta many years ago. That company is not producing what it was set up to produce. For some years now there has been a debate on whether that steel company should be auctioned or not, since it is basically dormant. We need steel for development so Alhaji Dangote should be encouraged not to stop his investment plan on steel. Anyone who says he is likely to become a monopolist should also start his steel company and give Dangote competition. That is how economies grow in other countries.
By his massive investments in Nigeria Dangote is a major asset to the country. Those who are bad-mouthing him should also make massive investments here so that Nigeria can become a tiger nation in economic terms. If more people choose to invest in any sector of the economy no one will be accusing anyone of monopoly.
Dangote is not a monopolist. He is a patriot.