We are not students of economics nor are we business mogul’s horned in economics, therefore our knowledge of the business hanky panky is next to nothing. All the same, we did not expect this coming from you, except perhaps from the government, NNPC and the oil cartel.

The less endowed (money wise) people of Nigeria anxiously awaited the coming on stream of your mega refinery. I mean, we waited with bated breath for the commencement of the operation of the 650,000 barrels-a-day refinery, believing that it would bring to an end the hardship suffered by millions, who, for years, join the ever present queues just to get fuel for the tanks of their vehicles or their generators, better known as GEN on these shores.

Surprisingly however, instead of sighing with relief at the commencement, we poor compatriots sighed with resignation and utter disbelief to hear that the official price of pump price of fuel has gone up, and YOU saying that it is the NNPC, NOT you who will fix the price of petrol, known as fuel, on these shores. This marks a remarkable let down for people who have been anxiously waiting for the start of the Dangote refinery.

I read somewhere where someone said you were purely a business man and would therefore operate in no less manner. It was his belief that you are a very ruthless in the manner of Paul Getty, the American founder of Standard Oil, at the beginning. The Standard Oil was founded in the early 20th century, and was a monopoly in the (oil) business, in the entire world at the time. 

Paul Getty was the first modern day dollar billionaire at only 28 years of age because of the intense desire to monopolise the business and accumulate money. He developed a sickness that everybody thought he was going to die before he reached the age of 30. He abandoned the quest for money and turned his attention to giving back to the society. The company he founded, Standard Oil, was broken into many oil companies, and he went on to live up to the ripe age of 98 years in the world.

Those who tried to frustrate you when you almost finished the Dangote Refinery, said that you were a monopolist, but we disagreed with them saying, 

that you were no a monopolist because of the fact that there are many business people in the country doing the same businesses as you. Your refinery was said to have too much sulphur content, but we pointed out that when laboratory analyses were conducted it was found that the imported fuel had by far more sulphur than the your refinery’s. The imported petroleum had sulphur content at 1,800-2,000 ppm to your refinery’s 87.6 ppm. Indeed, there was a time when a strong stench emanated from the imported fuel, forcing buyers to cover their nose whenever they go to the petrol stations to fill up the tanks of their vehicles. 

We referred to them in a not so subtle a way.

“Unpatriotic people like the head of a leading government agency under the NNPC, who tried to discourage and intimidate Alhaji Aliko Dangote for their selfish, not country’s interest, are doomed to fail by the grace of God. The agency’s head had claimed that the “Dangote Refinery is still in the pre-commissioning stage and has not been licensed yet”.

“A callous statement and attempt to frustrate Dangote and any other business person who wants to invest in the building of a new refinery.

Such people who falsely claimed the  ‘inferiority of the products of the (Dangote) refinery’ deserve to be shown the gate from the high office that gave them the chance to work against the interest of the country. Their type always work for themselves if they could make money in the process. The money gluttons always do.

“For them, they would rather gain by cooperating, conniving, supporting with the OIC, to continue to rape the country and deny it the benefits of its hydro carbon riches, for their selfish interest”.

When you were nearly frustrated by some very high ups in the NNPC in cohorts with the so called oil cartel in the country, you said that at nearly 70 years old, you did not build the refinery for your benefit. You categorically said at 67 years of age, the Dangote Mega Refinery was for the betterment of the condition of Nigerians and the overall interest of the nation’s economy.

You were applauded and the mega refinery you were building was hugely supported by the generality of your compatriots and many people out side these shores, because they saw in it part of the salvation of the under development of Africa, which some other continents are hell bent on seeing that the African continent remains so. Backwards, according to their wish and desire, so that they could continue raping its abundant mineral resources for their industries, while Africa remains at the receiving end of the finished goods at a very high price.

You once told Eleni Giokos of the CNN Africa fame that Africans had to develop the continent by themselves, because no foreigner or foreign investors would come and do it for them. You said so during your second interview with the lady at the site of the then almost completed mega refinery.

This writer, in particular, had penned so many articles without numbers in your support and that of your mega one stream refinery, believing that you were just on the right track to assist your compatriots in obtaining refied fuel products with ease, and your country, to be a more prosperous and economically successful nation, that would hold its head high in matters of oil products production among the communities of nations.

Unfortunately for you, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the NNPCL has come out with a statement saying that “The market has been deregulated, meaning that petrol prices are now determined by market forces rather than by the government or NNPC Ltd”.

Now, who are we to believe between the NNPCL and you, given the contradicting claims the two of you have made? We do not want to believe that you have been taking us for a ride all along.

May God save us from shylocks, whoever they may be, corporate bodies or individuals.

Malam Malumfashi wrote from Katsina.