Aliko Dangote, chairman of Dangote Industries Limited, has brought to light allegations involving personnel from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, oil traders, and terminals operating an oil blending plant in Malta.
Dangote made these claims during an address to the house of representatives on Monday.
An oil blending plant, while lacking refining capabilities, can blend re-refined oil (used motor oil treated to remove contaminants) with additives to produce finished lubricant products. Dangote indicated that the locations of these blending plants are known and implicated certain NNPC staff and traders in their operation.
“Some of the terminals, some of the NNPC people and some traders have opened a blending plant somewhere off Malta,” Dangote stated. “We all know these areas. We know what they are doing.”
Addressing the issue of diesel quality, Dangote emphasized that locally produced diesel at 650 parts per million (ppm) and 700 ppm is superior to imported diesel. He attributed many vehicle issues to "substandard" imported fuel and urged the house of representatives to take action to ensure fuel quality.
Dangote called for the establishment of an independent committee to verify the quality of petrol at filling stations. He questioned the validity of current test certificates and emphasized the need for accurate sampling directly from filling stations and production lines.
“I want you to set up a committee that will come with every representative headed by your chosen honourable member to come and lead in taking samples from filling stations because I must tell you today that all the test certificates that people are busy floating around, where are the labs? Even if they have the labs, I can tell you they are fake certificates,” he said. “The real one that you now know that they are right is to take from the filling station and also come and take from our production line. Now, you will be able to tell Nigerians that this is it.”
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