Devakumar Edwin, the vice president of the Dangote Group, has explained why the price of gasoline has not dropped even if Dangote Petroleum Refinery distributes it for free.
Edwin clarified that its free statewide delivery of premium motor spirit (PMS), also referred to as gasoline, had slowed down due to the delay in the arrival of the 4,000 CNG trucks that were ordered from China.
He made this statement on Friday while former Goodluck Jonathan aide Reno Omokri was giving a tour of the Dangote refinery.
“We ordered the 4,000 trucks, but the ships from China coming, they couldn’t get enough ships to bring all the 4,000 here,” Edwin explained. That made a big difference.
“With God’s blessing, we will have every truck here before the year ends. We begin rolling out as soon as we have all the trucks here, and we will be able to service all local demands with our own trucks.
“Thereafter, we will be able to observe the impact; whether you are in Taraba, Maiduguri, or Sokoto, you will be able to observe that the prices are consistently lower.”
Edwin said that the Dangote refinery’s plan to switch to 100% local crude is being hampered by difficulties with the crude oil supply.
He declared in July that the refinery anticipates switching entirely to domestic crude sources by the end of 2025.
Edwin emphasized the difficulties in accomplishing the objective by pointing out that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited was recently unable to produce enough crude oil, which resulted in the suspension of the naira-for-crude program.
According to Edwin, the company feels that its difficulties in obtaining a 100% local crude supply will be overcome moving ahead after President Bola Tinubu stepped in and ordered that oil be given in naira.
