Dangote Group CEO Aliko Dangote has refuted claims that the sulphur content of diesel produced in his Lagos refinery was inferior in quality to the ones imported from other nations, countering a statement by Nigerian oil regulator boss Farouk Ahmed of NMDPRA.

Mr Dangote, who welcomed and gave a tour of his oil plant to Speaker Tajudeen Abbas and his deputy, Benjamin Kalu, on Saturday, conducted lab tests on diesel purchased by the lawmakers from two unnamed filling stations on Eleko road along Lekki-Epe Expressway and compared it with samples collected from Dangote Refinery. 

Results from the test monitored by lawmakers showed a sulphur content of 87.6 ppm (parts per million) from the sample from Dangote Refinery and excess of 1800 ppm and 2000 ppm from those collected from the two filling stations.

“I appreciate your wise counsel in procuring samples from the filling stations alongside our refinery’s product. Ours shows a sulphur content of 87.6 ppm, approximately 88, whereas the others exceeded 1,800 ppm,” Mr Dangote bragged, adding that his refinery was aiming for an even better quality to meet European emission standards.

“Although the NMDPRA permits local refiners to produce diesel with sulphur content up to 650 ppm until January 2025, as approved by ECOWAS, ours is significantly lower. Next week, we aim to achieve 10 ppm, aligning with the Euro V standard. Imported diesel is capped at 50 ppm, but as you’ve seen, those from the stations, imported by major marketers, fall well outside this standard,” Mr Dangote said.

Mr Dangote said the lab results rubbished claims made by the NMDPRA boss that his refinery produced 650 to 1200 ppm and insisted that his refinery “produces the best diesel in Nigeria.”

“The demarketing of a company by a regulator that he is supposed to protect is very very unfortunate,” said Africa’s richest man, who asked that regulators be welcomed anytime to his plant to run independent tests.

“We produce the best diesel in Nigeria. It’s disheartening that instead of safeguarding the market, the regulator is undermining it. And if the regulator wants, he can come 24 hours anytime. He has people here, let him conduct his (own test),” Mr Dangote said.

The billionaire further asked that the media beam a spotlight on NMDPRA’s laboratory, where he ostensibly runs tests to determine the quality of refined crude products.

“I would like the media to show our lab, and I want them to also show the lab of the regulator himself. He (Mr Ahmed) should show us which lab he is using because, as a regulator, he is supposed to have a lab. If regulator doesn’t have a lab, then we have an issue,” Mr Dangote said.