Starting in October, Dangote Petroleum Refinery will begin setting petrol prices in Nigeria, moving away from government regulation.
Reports indicate that the federal government plans to allow the refinery to determine its own gasoline prices, effective Thursday.
“Nigeria will let Dangote set gasoline prices for petroleum marketers starting next month,” sources told Bloomberg. “Petrol marketers will soon be able to purchase directly from the Dangote Refinery.”
Temitope Ajayi, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, confirmed that Dangote’s refinery will sell petrol at market rates.
Ajayi explained, “As a profit-driven enterprise, Dangote Refinery will price petrol according to market values.
It is unlikely that NNPC or the federal government will control prices for a private business. The petroleum regulator’s role will be to ensure product quality and fair pricing to protect consumers.”
Earlier this week, Tribune Online reported that Aliko Dangote, Chairman of Dangote Industries Limited, announced the commencement of petrol production at the refinery.
Initially, petrol pricing from the plant was to be overseen by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
Currently, Nigerians face a prolonged petrol shortage, with NNPC recently increasing pump prices to N855 per liter, resulting in long queues at filling stations.
Adedapo Segun, Executive Vice President of Downstream at NNPC, stated that the company plans to supply more than 17.6 million barrels of crude oil to the Dangote Refinery over the next two months.
Segun also highlighted the need for market-driven pricing to encourage competition, noting that current petrol prices do not align with market conditions.
