Wale Edun, minister of finance and coordinating minister of
the economy, says the commencement of petrol supply from the Dangote Petroleum
Refinery is a resumption of Nigeria’s march to industrialisation.
Speaking at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery facility on
Sunday, Edun said the resumption of local refining of petrol in the country
marks a new beginning.
“The supply of Petroleum products, in this particular case
PMS, across to the Nigerian market was failed in naira. As I’ll explain, in
many ways it is the resumption of Nigeria’s march to industrialization. It is
in return to something that we had before — local refinery, local supply of petroleum
products in the Nigerian market,” Edun said.
“It has been decades
since we have been able to achieve this, and we have it today.”
Edun thanked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for ensuring that
the federal executive council intervened in the sale of crude oil by NNPC to
the Dangote refinery and the supply of petroleum products by the refinery.
“Today, we have taken an important step, a key step, towards
energy self-sufficiency in Nigeria. We have taken an important step in energy
security in Nigeria, not to talk of self-reliance and implementation of the
government‘s policy of domestic investment or investment in domestic
production,” he said.
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“It is the vision of Mr. President that no raw material
should leave the shores of Nigeria without some value being added.
“So once again, I know that this vision of Mr. President
started many, many years ago. We are in a free zone; we started Lekki Lagos
Free Zone. We have this free port across the world, that’s a free zone. And we
have this Dangote refinery and petrochemicals company, which is in a free
zone.”
EDUN: CRITICS SAID DANGOTE REFINERY COULDN’T PRODUCE PMS
Speaking further, Edun commended Aliko Dangote, Africa’s
richest person, for achieving the feat, adding that detractors had said the
refinery lacks the capacity to produce petrol.
“On this day of
triumph, this day of success, they said it couldn’t be done. They said we
couldn’t do it, that we could not produce PMS from this edifice behind us. And
here now we have it that the proof of the pudding is in eating,” he said
“We do have PMS that is sufficient for the whole of the
Nigerian market. And of course, that is the ultimate objective that we produce
domestically.
“And we call on all refiners, all domestic refiners to come
together to not only supply the domestic market but also to let us change the
narrative and have legal exports, legal earning of foreign exchange into this
economy by providing, in the first instance, the sub-region.”
The minister also said petrol from Nigeria is smuggled to neighbouring
countries, noting that the supply should be done legitimately and officially.
Edun said this would provide the country with extra foreign
exchange revenue, which is important for the overall well-being of the economy.
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