CHAIRMAN of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, is upbeat that when the Dangote Petroleum Refinery would provide relief to Nigeria’s inflation woes when it becomes fully operational and starts selling diesel at reduced prices.
Speaking with journalists shortly after visiting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Lagos, Dangote was optimistic about the economy rebounding, citing the Naira exchange rate that has improved in recent times, dropping from around N1,900 to the dollar to the current level of between N1,250 and N1,300.
Dangote disclosed that his refinery has been selling diesel at N1,200 per litre, compared to the previous market price of N1,650 to N1,700, saying he was expecting dramatic reduction in fuel costs to help reduce inflation in the coming months.
He said: “There’s quite a lot of improvement, because if you look at it here, one of the major issues that we’ve had was the narrow devaluation that has gone very aggressively up to about N1,900. But right now, we’re back to almost N1,250 or N1,300, which is a good improvement.
“And you can see quite a lot of things have actually gone up. Even now, when you go to the market, for example, something that we produce locally, like flour or whatever, people will charge you more, because they’re paying very high prices on diesel.
“What we did, for example, in our refinery, we started selling even diesel at N1,200, and I’m sure that as we go along, things will continue to improve quite a lot.
“Eventually, going forward, even though the crude prices are going up, I believe people will not get it much higher than what it is today. N1,200, it might be even a little bit lower.
“That can help quite a lot, because if you are transporting locally produced goods, rice and other stuff, you are paying N1,650, now you are paying two thirds of that amount, N1,200. It’s a lot of difference.
“That can actually help to bring inflation down immediately. And I’m sure when the inflation figures are out for the next month, you will see that there’s quite a lot of improvement in the inflation rate.
“So, one step at a time. I’m sure the government is working round the clock to make sure that things get much better, because it’s in their own interest; it’s in the interest of everybody. I just want to thank everybody.”
He urged captains of industry to partner with government to improve the lives of Nigerian citizens, noting: “You can’t clap with one hand. So, both the entrepreneurs and government need to clap together and make sure that it is in the best interest of everybody.”
