A Cabal In Plain Sight Wants More

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery, Nigeria’s lifeline from decades of rot successful the petroleum downstream, has to combat each inch for its turf. The combat started 18 years ago, erstwhile the refinery was lone an idea.

In 2007, those who swore that a refinery – immoderate refinery, nationalist oregon backstage – would lone enactment implicit their dormant bodies forced President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to reversethe merchantability of the Port Harcourt and Kaduna Refineries with a weapon implicit his head. Among the vested interests, the unions pulled the trigger connected the $670 cardinal merchantability to Blue Star, the Dangote-led consortium.

Since then, Nigeria has spent an estimated $20 billiontrying to hole 4 authorities refineries with a combined capableness of 450,000 bpd, astir the magnitude it outgo Dangote to physique a marque caller 1 with a capableness of 650,000 bpd. Still, the cabal wants much for its whited sepulchre that tin hardly person steam to water.

Dangote fights back

After commissioning and commencement of production,and contempt an knowing that the Dangote Refinerywould bargain crude lipid locally, it is inactive forced to import 60 percent of its crude lipid from the US. Yet, the cartel is not done inflicting misery connected the country. It is lining up down those who import petrol from overseas and stirring up allegations that Dangote products person precocious sulphur contented – an accusation made shamelessly by a regulatory assemblage without a investigating laboratory.

It was precise encouraging that Aliko, not known for nationalist brawls, laid successful connected the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency (NMDPRA)in effect to the past challenge.

When we thought the Dangote vessel was retired of troubled waters, the cabal showed up with different nasty and clumsy tackle. They can’t judge that the lucrative “subsidised” petrol fraud, from which they cornered astir N2 trillion successful questionable claims oregon N50,000 per petrol truck, is ending.

Unions are for unions…

Under the auspices of the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN), they privation the Dangote Refinery to proceed to walk connected the windfall costs that the erstwhile nebulous import regimes granted them to consumers. They didn’t conscionable halt there;they brandished a seven-day ultimatum aft which they would inflict an orchestrated and premeditated chaos connected the market.

They thrive precise good and thrust the clouds erstwhile determination are agelong queues and petrol is scarce. That is erstwhile their aureate calf receives each the sacrificial totems they demand, including the humor of Nigerians they assertion to beryllium warring for.

Oil unions and the depot relation are doing for Shakespeare what helium couldn’t execute successful his guiltless depiction of immoderate of the astir horrendous middlemen from The Merchant of Venice to The Taming of the Shrew.

The folks successful these associations who unrecorded ample disconnected our corporate misery importune connected reaping wherever they person not sown. They are taking the combat to Dangote’s turf, insisting that the institution pays N1.5 trillion arsenic a hostage interest for the obsolete depot exemplary oregon nothing. That model, present discarded, ensured that unions got a chopped of each litre that came through. As Thomas Sowell rightly said successful his article, “Union Myths,” “The biggest story astir unions is that unions are for the workers. Unions are for the unions.”

Whose canine is successful the fight?

But this is not each astir Dangote. It’s much astir free-loading agents who person go entitled to surviving beyond their means and passing the other outgo to mean Nigerians.

But however and wherefore bash they adjacent dare? Because this is Nigeria, wherever unions could unopen down the nationalist grid,and the heavens won’t travel crashing connected their heads. This is conscionable a small spot of however unions person go emboldened implicit the years – to drawback the federation by its balls and adjacent springiness a nasty pinch, past locomotion distant with triumph songs.

Pound for pound, Dangote Refinery is putting up a bold resistance, dissimilar what the unions and vested interests down it person been accustomed to implicit the years.

For decades, these unions person ne'er protested againstpublicly owned refineries wherever their members enactment and gain salaries for doing nothing. But they are abruptly against Dangote delivering products to retail outlets for free. They don’t adjacent privation him to modernise the productdistribution channels. They person monopolised inefficiency but privation to blackmail Dangote into mounting up a monopoly.

Obstruction aft obstruction

On Wednesday, September 17, 2025, the National Industrial Court successful Abuja granted an ex parte bid successful favour of Dangote Petroleum Refinery. Justice Emmanuel Danjuma Subilim granted the alleviation based connected a question and originating processes filed by Dangote connected September 15, 2025.

The ruling barre...