From Okwe Obi, Abuja
The Coalition of Civil Society Organisations in Nigeria (COCSON) and the Nigerian Interfaith Forum (NIF) have backed Dangote Refinery and flayed a plot by the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) to bring back fuel subsidy.
It noted that DAPPMAN’s push for a N1.505 trillion backdoor subsidy would further push millions of Nigerians into economic snag.
COCSON President Ibrahim Suleiman and NIF Chairman Matthew Ayodele said the demand, disguised as operational costs of N75 per litre, amounted to economic sabotage against Nigerians.
They accused DAPPMAN of undermining the operations of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, which they described as a national asset and beacon of industrial progress.
He said: “Mothers are skipping meals, fathers are trekking long distances to save transport fares, and young people are losing hope as inflation bites. At such a critical time, to ask Nigerians to underwrite inefficiency with ₦1.5 trillion yearly is wickedness. This is not subsidy — it is extortion.”
They said while Dangote Refinery exported over 3.2 million metric tonnes of refined products in just three months, DAPPMAN imported 3.6 million metric tonnes, allegedly promoting dumping and sabotaging local refining.
They recalled that at the commissioning of the refinery, Dangote was left with over 500 million litres of unsold stock as marketers allegedly refused to patronise him. The groups argued that Dangote’s eventual decision to invest in over 4,000 trucks to distribute his own products was a direct response to “cartel sabotage,” not an attempt to monopolise the market.
“Those who abandoned and strangled his refinery are now crying monopoly,” said Imam Musa Abdullahi, NIF National Secretary.
They also warned that entertaining DAPPMAN’s demands would undermine President Bola Tinubu’s subsidy removal policy and damage Nigeria’s credibility before international investors.
“Granting such concessions would roll back hard-won reforms and drag us back into subsidy fraud,” said Grace Okonkwo, COCSON’s National Secretary.
More so, they unveiled a series of measures to resist DAPPMAN’s push, including filing a suit at the Federal High Court for economic sabotage and conspiracy, countrywide protests calling for DAPPMAN’s dissolution, lobbying the Federal Government and National Assembly to prioritise local refining in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) and strengthen anti-cartel laws, and publishing a “watchlist” of companies and individuals accused of sabotaging Nigeria’s refining sector.
The groups called on the Federal Government to remain firm, Nigerians to unite, and Dangote Refinery to “stand strong” in what they described as the country’s refining revolution.
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