Our PMS Cheaper Than Imported, Says Dangote
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Dangote Refinery on Sunday said its Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, is cheaper than imported ones.
Anthony Chiejina, Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer, Dangote Group, in a statement on Sunday, debunked insinuations by Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) that the refinery’s premium motor spirit (PMS) costs more than imported products.
The statement said Dangote Refinery benchmarked its prices against international prices and believes its prices are competitive relative to the price of imports.
Chiejina added that if anyone claims they can land PMS at a price cheaper than what Dangote Refinery is selling, then they are importing substandard products and conniving with international traders to dump low quality products into the country, without concern for the health of Nigerians or the longevity of their vehicles.
“Unfortunately, the regulator (NMDPRA) does not even have laboratory facilities which can be used to detect substandard products when imported into the country.
“Post deregulation, NNPC set the pace by selling PMS to domestic marketers at N971 per litre for sale into ships and at N990 for sale into trucks. This set the benchmark for our pricing, and we have even gone lower to sell at N960 per litre for sale into ships while maintaining N990 per litre for sale into trucks.
“In good faith, and in the interest of the country, we commenced sales at these prices without clarity on the exchange rate that we will use to pay for the crude purchased. At the same time, an international trading company has recently hired a depot facility next to the Dangote Refinery, with the objective of using it to blend substandard products that will be dumped into the market to compete with Dangote Refinery’s higher quality production.
“This is detrimental to the growth of domestic refining in Nigeria,” he said.
Dangote Refinery pointed out that it is not unusual for countries to protect their domestic industries in order to provide jobs and grow the economy.
“For example, the US and Europe have had to impose high tariffs on EVs and microchips in order to protect their domestic industries,” the statement added.
