KEY POINTS

• Dangote refinery led by Aliko Dangote is ready to start distribution of home produced petrol within the country.
• Call for the adoption of consumer friendly prices in the computation of the required capacities of the refinery.
• The launch will go a long way towards lowering petrol prices with a view to assisting in the economic relief.

With the Dangote Refinery soon to enter the local market, there has been huge pressure on leaders to prioritize the country than making profits.

Otunba Segun Showunmi, PDP chieftain from Ogun state beckons on the owner of the refinery Aliko Dangote and called on him to reduce the tagged petrol price to moderate level to cushion the effect on the economic ruinous impacts on the lives of Nigerians.

Pioneering local production

The Dangote Refinery Company therefore stands the chance to turn the economy of Nigeria around due to its ability to reduce the quantities of fuel imported in the country.

This is a step that has been believed to have the effect of regulating the fuel market and thereby better managing the resources that are scarce back in the country.

While Nigerians have been suffering the painful effects of high fuel prices for years, the launch of this $20 billion (#32 trillion) refinery means getting a ray of light.

A plea for fair pricing

Punch reported that the need for fair price cannot be overemphasized and in his typical humanitarian fashion, Otunba Segun Showunmi was vocal in this regard.

He equally thanked the Chairman of Dangote group, Aliko Dangote for his enormous investment on Nigeria’s industrial and employment base but urged him to ensure that the gains of the refinery are equally felt in the price of its products.

This therefore echoes the sentiments of many Nigerians especially those who are eagerly waiting for the period of respite from the incessant increases in the pump price of petrol as exemplified by showunmi.

Thus, utilising prices which reflects the population’s challenges, Showunmi highlights the reasonableness of the profit-patriotism dichotomy.

Impact on the market

Technology marketers and consumers in the Nigeria are eagerly waiting to get their hands on some of the best technologies out there.

The officials from the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria such as its National Vice President Hammed Fashola envision that the target of refining could bring the petrol prices down to N600 to N650 per litre.

This expected decline in price they predicted to be associated with enhanced local production competence, which if hiked would lessen the fact that many people especially the average citizen in Nigeria are deep in financial debt due to expensive imported commodities.