By Akpobor Jirue, Lagos
The Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has officially confirmed rollout Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol from its refinery.
Dangote, who made the announcement while addressing the press on Tuesday, described the development as a turnaround for the country after many years of not producing a single litre of petrol.
He assured all citizens that they “are now going to have good petrol while the engines of your vehicles will last longer. You will not be having an engine issue, which a lot of us were having. It won’t happen at all.”
“The quality here will match that of anywhere in the world; US, America, we will make sure that nobody will beat us in terms of quality,” Dangote said.
The refinery owner said as soon as his company finalises modalities with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), the product will hit the market.
“As soon as we finalise with the NNPCL, our product will start going into the market.
“We will help to restore industry and manufacturing. We will begin real import substitution, which is what we have, you know, saving foreign exchange, earning foreign exchange, which will stabilise the naira, and it will also help bring down inflation and cost of living,” he stated.
He acknowledged that many Nigerians doubted the project would ever succeed.
Dangote expressed his gratitude to Devakumar Edwin, Vice President of Oil and Gas at Dangote Industries Limited, for his unwavering dedication over the seven years it took to complete the project.
He also commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for creating an enabling environment that allowed the 650,000 barrels per day refinery to become a reality.
Dangote said, ”This is a very special day. I believe Nigeria has not produced petrol, which is gasoline, for many years. Standing here today, I would like to salute the people of Nigeria and the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for creating an enabling environment for us to thrive and achieve this monumental task of providing energy to our people for growth, employment, and prosperity.
“I think this has been a truly noble achievement.
“I want to personally thank Mr. President for creating this idea of Naira for crude. And also Naira for the product. Doing that, it’ll give a lot of stability for the Naira. You know, where now you remove 40% of the demands of dollars in the market and that would actually stabilise the market.
“As you know there’s quite a lot of what you call round trip where people are now doing documentation and the fuel does not come into Nigeria. And this is a fact.
“So, right now, as we have this refinery working, it’ll show the true consumption of Nigeria. We can track every single loaded truck and we can try as much as possible to track loaded ships.
“Trucks, we can tell you where they are….but that’s a discussion for another. Today’s discussion is just to celebrate and thank God Almighty for bringing us to this stage of now producing gasoline. And I know a lot of people have not actually believed that we would be able to deliver. But we’ve been able to deliver.
”I especially want to thank Mr Edwin, Vice President of Oil and Gas, for his sleepless nights and lack of vacations over the last seven years, and Mrs Alake for ensuring everything was perfect, including the finances, so we could meet this challenge.
”This refinery will entirely change the dynamics, not only in Nigeria but also in Sub-Saharan Africa. The capacity we have will not only meet Nigeria’s demands but also those of Sub-Saharan Africa, at least. You might see it in different colours, but this is the real deal.
”You will now have good quality petrol that will make your vehicle engines last longer, with no more engine issues that many of us were facing. The quality of our petrol will match that of anywhere in the world, including the U.S.
“We will ensure that nobody beats us in terms of quality. Today is a day to give thanks to God, the President, and our friends who have been so supportive, keeping us on our toes, giving us sleepless nights to ensure we did not disappoint them.”