Femi Otedola, the billionaire businessman, says during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, over N2 trillion was siphoned through questionable petrol subsidy claims linked to depot licences.
Otedola spoke in a statement on Monday, backing the Dangote
Petroleum Refinery (DPR) in its with the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers
Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN).
On September 16, DAPPMAN accused the refinery of engaging in
market-disruptive practices, claiming that the company’s fuel price cuts were
strategically timed to weaken competition rather than to serve patriotic
interests.
Countering the group, the Dangote refinery said DAPPMAN
allegedly demanded an annual subsidy of N1.5 trillion to enable members match
the refinery’s gantry prices at their own depots.
Speaking on the issue, Otedola said the petrol subsidy
system was structured to favor depot owners, with DAPPMAN members emerging as
the main beneficiaries.
“On subsidy, I personally warned President Goodluck Jonathan
that he was being misled. The system was built to benefit depot owners, and
DAPPMAN members became the primary beneficiaries,” he said.
“Over N2 trillion was siphoned through questionable claims,
all tied to depot licenses. The policy rewarded neither transparency nor
innovation, it encouraged rent-seeking and corruption.”
Addressing what he described as a “a myth that continues to
be repeated”, Otedola said depots do not drive employment as some people claim.
“A typical depot employs perhaps five people, gatekeeper
included. In contrast, a single filling station can provide jobs to dozens of
Nigerians—from pump attendants to cashiers, security personnel, and cleaners,”
Otedola said.
“If anything, DAPPMAN members should be focusing on owning
and scaling last-mile retail outlets, not holding on to tanks built for a fuel
import economy that no longer serves us.
“The global picture is instructive. Depots in Amsterdam or
Houston were designed to serve export markets, especially Africa. With Nigeria
now refining locally, such infrastructure is increasingly unnecessary.The same
thing happened in the cement industry.”
He said immediately Nigeria started producing cement
locally, “the bulk carriers that used to dock at our ports were retired, many
sold as scrap”.
“The same outcome awaits fuel depots,” Otedola said.
The billionaire warned that if DAPPMAN members do not adapt,
they will become irrelevant, and possibly go bankrupt.
“Instead of resisting progress, they should consider
selling, restructuring, or investing in new value chains,” he added.
He said if they genuinely believed in competition, they
could pool resources to acquire the Port Harcourt refinery and attempt to
succeed where the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited had
failed.
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