•Tasks NSA, DSS to fish out saboteurs plotting to undermine local refining of crude oil

Concerned about the alarm raised recently by the Vice President, Oil and Gas, at Dangote Industries Limited, Devakumar Edwin, that International Oil Companies, IOCs, in Nigeria were actively doing everything to frustrate the survival of Dangote Oil Refinery and Petrochemicals, and the recent suspicious fire outbreak at a section of the multi-billion dollars’ worth Dangote Refinery, HURIWA has asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to order twenty four hours impregnable security around the facilities.

HURIWA has also called on Nigerians to speak out in defence of Dangote Refinery and demand from the Nigerian Government an elevated security system to safeguard the facilities of Dangote Refinery from being sabotaged just as the Rights group accused insiders embedded inside of government of Nigeria as the agents that being deployed by the international oil companies operating in the Country to sabotage Dangote Refinery which is a national pride and an invaluable heritage that must be protected by all means.

HURIWA recalled that few days back, the Dangote Refinery through its chieftain had said the IOCs were deliberately and wilfully frustrating the refinery’s efforts to buy local crude by jerking up high premium price above the market price, thereby forcing it to import crude from countries as far as United States, with its attendant high costs.

Speaking to a group of Energy Editors at a one-day training programme organised by the Dangote Group, Edwin also lamented the activity of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, in granting licences indiscriminately to marketers to import dirty refined products into the country.

He said: “The Federal Government issued 25 licences to build refineries and we are the only one that delivered on promise. In effect, we deserve every support from the government. It is good to note that from the start of production, more than 3.5 billion litres, which represents 90 per cent of our production, have been exported.

“We are calling on the Federal Government and regulators to give us the necessary support in order to create jobs and prosperity for the nation.

HURIWA which endorses the sentiments expressed by Dangote Refinery that it must be supported, therefore wondered why the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) is backing the international oil companies operating in Nigeria by subjectively denying the allegations by Dangote Refinery that it is issuing import licenses indiscriminately to marketers despite the country’s capacity to refine diesel. HURIWA has called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to undertake immediate investigative action with the aim of safeguarding the corporate interest of Dangote Refinery which is Nigeria’s national pride.

According to the NMDPRA, the deregulation of the downstream sector allows marketers to source products from anywhere, whether locally refined or imported from outside the country.

The Authority emphasized that marketers have the freedom to make commercial decisions on where to source their products, and that the NMDPRA’s role is to ensure that quality products are sold to consumers and at a fair price.

Speaking to journalists at the end of a meeting with local refiners and marketers, the Executive Director, Distribution Systems, Storage, and Retailing Infrastructure, NMDPRA, Ogbugo Ukoha said while the government would continue to encourage patronage of the local refiners, the decision ultimately lies with the marketers.

The NMDPRA’s response comes after Dangote Refinery alleged that the Authority was granting import licenses indiscriminately to marketers when it had the capacity to meet local demands for diesel. It also alleged that the marketers were importing substandard products into the country.

HURIWA carpeted the publicly owned NMDPRA for failing to defend Nigeria’s national interest which the safety, stability and continuous successful operations of the Dangote Refinery represents but has instead taken sides with the International Oil Companies who are been accused of plotting active sabotage against Dangote Refinery just as the Rights group averred that the primary reason why there are active plots to undermine the successful take-off of Dangote Refinery is the anti-poor and anti-people’s scheme by the hierarchy of the government controlled NMDPRA and the NNPCL to keep the costs of petrol as high as possible and therefore subject Nigerian masses to untold misery and economic adversities.

In a media statement, HURIWA through the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko has asked President Tinubu to order the National Security Adviser and the Department of State Services to investigate the remote and immediate circumstances that occasioned the inferno in a section of Dangote Refinery barely 24 hours that an alarm emerged about an active plot to sabotage the operations of Dangote Refinery.

HURIWA stated thus: “We are therefore urging the Nigerian government to categorise the Dangote Refinery as a national heritage that must be accorded the highest security cover so saboteurs and even fifth columnists inside of the NNPCL and other Petroleum related Regulatory agencies, are not deployed to destroy the commercial entity known as Dangote Refinery which is a national pride for all of Nigeria and Nigerians collectively. Dangote Refinery has come to offer alternative and affordable sources of energy and fuel to domestic consumers in Nigeria and to help re-engineer and re-energise the local economy of Nigeria. Everything under the authority of the central government must be done to provide effective, efficient and comprehensive security cover to Dangote Refinery. Let no harm be allowed to destroy Dangote Refinery. This is our country, and we must protect our local businesses and allow them to blossom.”

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