President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has decided to jettison plan to invest in Nigeria’s steel sector over `campaign of calumny .
Dangote said this in a statement on Saturday, noting that widespread allegations of trying to monopolise every industry in Nigeria has become a major disincentive.
“Our own board has decided that we should not do the steel because if we do the steel business, we will be called all sorts of names like monopoly,” Africa’s richest man said.
He noted that imports will be encouraged should he invest in the steel sector, which could hamper his company’s objectives.
Last Thursday, Farouk Ahmed, chief executive of Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, had told the world that the Federal Government would not stop the importation of petroleum products, saying Nigeria cannot depend only on Dangote refinery to feed the nation.
The agency also said the diesel from the Dangote Refinery contains a high sulphur content of about 1,000 parts per million.
But Dangote Group has refuted the allegations, insisting its diesel is 80 percent superior to those currently imported into Nigeria.
“Until late last year, diesel imports into Nigeria were up to 7,000 parts per million (ppm) of Sulphur which has been going on for many years. Our diesel is produced currently at significantly lower levels of Sulphur; as such, we find baseless the allegation that the reason for the reduction is linked to quality. What we are producing is 80 percent of what is being imported into the country,” a statement by the group said.
“Another inaccurate assertion is that Medium Level Sulphur diesel is meant for off-road use. This is a completely false statement as this would have invariably meant that all the imports for the last 20 years have been damaging equipment.
“Thirdly, diesel imports for the high Sulphur grade have been at significantly higher prices until we started operation. If indeed high Sulphur diesel is sold at lower prices how come we never saw the lower prices until now?” it further said.
