The Northern Elders Forum has alleged that powerful vested interests are frustrating the efforts of the Dangote Refinery to produce refined petrol.
The NEF in a statement on Saturday by its Chairman, Professor Ango Abdulahi, said the unfolding drama between the Dangote Refinery and the the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Authority, was orchestrated by those powerful interests to frustrate the former.
The statement read, “The Northern Elders Forum is watching with sustained interest the unfolding drama being orchestrated by some powerful vested interests to frustrate the good example set by the nation’s leading investor and foremost African entrepreneur, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, who has defied all formidable odds to build a privately-owned ultramodern petroleum refinery in Nigeria.
“This remarkable business feat, which ordinarily should instantly earn him national encomiums and accolades, has paradoxically ignited the malicious fury of enemies of our dear country, who are strategically located in the oil and gas sector of the economy. They have been wreaking havoc over the years through many subterfuges, resulting in the crippling of our nation’s refining capacity and the ruthless imposition of a ruinous regime of massive refined oil and other sundry products importation to the detriment of our national growth.
“In this wise, the lamentable and highly troubling commentary against the Dangote refinery that came out from the NNPCL and its other sister regulatory bodies smacks of a glaring attempt to de-market this epochal national achievement and premeditatedly derail the economy from the path of healthy growth and stability.”
The statement said politics was being made to trample over the interest of the nation.
“Regrettably, it is only in Nigeria that politics is played with narrow interests as the motive force and the sole determinant, more often than not, allowed to trample the economic interest of the nation.
“The NEF, while welcoming and taking judicious note of the timely action taken by the Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Heineken Lokpobri, to arrest this worrisome situation, wishes to conclude by restating our determination to stand resolutely with Dangote in defence of this gigantic business stride, which signifies the dawn of prosperity for our people.”
