Muda Yusuf says the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has exhibited lack of enthusiasm about the Dangote Refinery.
Yusuf, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Center For The Promotion Of Private Enterprise, described the development as worrisome.
He stated this on a live television programme on Monday.
“I am worried that the NNPC is not showing enough excitement about this Dangote Refinery and it is very strange,” Yusuf said.
“Like many other Nigerians we expect the NNPC to be a lot more enthusiastic. But from the body language, from the pronouncement, it doesn’t seem like that and that will be very, very bad for this economy.”
Yusuf, who is the immediate past Director General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, questioned the delay of NNPC to load petrol from the Dangote Refinery.
He said “What I do know from the announcement of Dangote is that they are ready and they have the product ready and suddenly we saw that supply has improved.
“Apparently, they (NNPCL) have gone to import again. Why should that be? Something is not adding up.”
According to Yusuf, the failure of the NNPCL to start purchasing from local refineries might be as a result of selfish gain.
“I don’t know why people are now back tracking and trying to almost sabotage a very big initiative. Perhaps it could be issues of self interest. This cannot be in the interest of the Nigerian economy,” he said.
To end the continuous hike in price of petrol, Yusuf suggested the localisation of oil and gas transactions.
He added that the reduction of the pressure of the foreign exchange will have a significant impact on the macro economic environment.
He further stated that the localisation of oil and gas transactions will not only conserve foreign exchange and create more jobs, but it will facilitate more transparency in the domestic production process.
“We need to localise fuel importation. Luckily we now have the Dangote Refinery. It is a great opportunity for us to localise all transactions relating to fuel supply. That will increase the transparency and integrity of the process, it will help us to strengthen our reserves and moderate the pressure on the exchange rate.”
He called on government officials and political leaders to look into the issues in order to find a solution.
“I think higher authorities need to weigh in on this because the way it is, I’m not sure we can leave this big issue only to the NNPCL,” Yusuf stated.
