Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has announced that Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, from his 650,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Lagos, will be hitting the market in 48 hours.
Dangote who made the disclosure while speaking to Arise TV on Tuesday from the facility in Lagos, however, did not disclose the pump price of the commodity.
This is as a viral message on the social media said the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Limited, had increased its pump price of fuel from N617 per litre to N897 per litre.
According to Dangote, petrol from his refinery will be available to marketers as soon as the final arrangements with NNPCL were concluded.
He said: “Our PMS (Premium Motor Spirit) can be in filling stations within the next 48 hours, depending on NNPCL.”
When confronted with how much his product would be selling, Dangote said: “It is an arrangement which is designed and approved by the Federal Executive Council led by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“As soon as it is finalised, which he (Tinubu) is pushing, once we finish with NNPC, it can be today, it can be tomorrow, we are ready to roll into the market.”
He, however, assured Nigerians that his petrol is of high quality contrary to blackmail by his detractors.
“We have good petrol while the engines of your vehicles will last longer. You will not be having an engine issue, which a lot of us were having. It won’t happen at all.
“The quality here will match that of anywhere in the world; US, America, we will make sure that nobody will beat us in terms of quality.”
He thanked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his supports to his efforts to bring hope to the oil sector.
“I would like to salute the people of Nigeria and the government of President Bola Tinubu for giving us the platform for growth, development, and prosperity. I also want to thank him personally for creating the idea of the Naira for crude. Doing that will give Naira stability.
“As we have this refinery working, it will show the true consumption of Nigeria; we can track every loaded truck and ship,” Dangote said
Dangote, however, said his refinery would also serve other countries in Africa.
