*Labour urges FG to promote crude in naira to spice up native refining
By Victor Ahiuma-Younger
The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has hailed the Dangote Petroleum Refinery as a transformative nationwide asset, describing it as a significant step in the direction of bridging Nigeria’s gasoline provide hole, boosting employment, and restoring public confidence within the nation’s industrial capability.
Talking after a tour of the Dangote Refinery and Dangote Fertiliser Restricted, the Chairperson of the NLC Lagos State Council, Funmi Sessi, who led the Govt members of the Council, praised the large scale and strategic significance of the Dangote Group’s investments, stating that the initiatives are delivering tangible advantages to the Nigerian folks.
“Right this moment, we’ve got seen the large Dangote Refinery undertaking, in addition to the fertiliser plant. We now have additionally noticed a few of Dangote’s different investments on this axis. It’s really monumental and extremely spectacular
“I imagine what we’ve got seen is a transparent effort to bridge the hole within the availability of important merchandise within the nation, to create job alternatives for Nigerians and others, in addition to to industrialise the nation.”
She recalled that following the Federal Authorities’s removing of petrol subsidies, Nigerians skilled an unprecedented surge in the price of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS.
In response to her, the doorway of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery into the market helped to stabilise costs.
“It wasn’t till Dangote got here into the image that we began seeing some aid. His intervention considerably crashed the escalated costs of PMS and different refined merchandise. That’s a transparent demonstration of personal sector management,” she acknowledged.
The NLC chairperson appealed to the Federal Authorities to prioritise the sale of crude oil to the Dangote Refinery in naira.
She argued that forcing the corporate to import crude or buy regionally in {dollars} undermines the promise of decrease gasoline costs for bizarre Nigerians.
Sessi queried, “This nation has crude oil in abundance. So why is Dangote nonetheless being made to import crude or pay for it in laborious forex? If the federal government is really dedicated to lowering gasoline costs and supporting native refining, it should promote crude oil to Dangote in naira.”
The NLC chief argued that sourcing crude regionally in native forex would considerably decrease operational prices and, by extension, result in a extra sustainable discount in gasoline costs.
“With a each day capability of 650,000 barrels, this refinery can serve Nigeria and even the West African sub-region. We now have additionally seen large ships taking fertilisers to different nations. The federal government should maximise this chance,” the NLC Chairperson mentioned.
She identified that the refinery’s potential mirrors the transformation skilled within the cement trade, the place Dangote’s pioneering function stimulated competitors and market development.
“We now have seen it with sugar, and we’ve got seen it with cement. The success of Dangote Cement led to the emergence of gamers like BUA, Mangal, and the growth of Lafarge. In the identical approach, the success of this refinery will drive the emergence of extra non-public refineries in Nigeria,” she mentioned.
In response to her, the Dangote Refinery will not be solely serving to to deal with Nigeria’s long-standing reliance on imported refined merchandise but additionally setting the tempo for a sustainable and aggressive refining trade that may profit the broader financial system.
She famous that the Dangote Group has change into a nurturing floor for Nigerian engineers, scientists, and technicians, a lot of whom have gone on to work as expatriates in varied nations.
Sessi urged the corporate to keep up its dedication to human capital growth, workers welfare, and the general well-being of the financial system, emphasising that Aliko Dangote is a patriotic Nigerian totally devoted to the nation’s progress.
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