The President/Chief Executive, Dangote Industries Limited, (DIL), Aliko Dangote, has appealed to African leaders to take deliberate steps to protect domestic producers from unfair competition.
He said this has become necessary for the continent to experience real growth and development .
Dangote urged African leaders to emulate what their counterparts in U.S., Canada, and the EU countries have done for their local industries.
Speaking at the ongoing West African Refined Fuel Conference holding in Abuja, Dangote said : “to make matters worse, we are now facing increasing dumping of cheap, often toxic, petroleum products—some of which are blended to substandard levels that would never be allowed in Europe or North America.”
He also cited the growing influx of discounted, low-quality fuel originating from Russia — blended with Russian crude under price caps and dumped in African markets.
He revealed that the continent is handing over its economic potential to others and exporting jobs while importing poverty back into the continent.
He said : “So, while we produce plenty of crude, we still import over 120 million tonnes of refined petroleum products each year, effectively exporting jobs and importing poverty into our continent.
“That’s a $90 billion market opportunity being captured by regions with surplus refining capacity.
“To put this in perspective: only about 15% of African countries have a GDP greater than $90 billion.
“We are effectively handing over an entire continent’s economic potential to others—year after year,” he said.
He lamented that Africa is increasingly becoming a destination for cheap, often toxic petroleum products — many of which are blended to substandard levels that would not be permitted in Europe or North America.
Dangote further stated that despite producing around 7 million barrels of crude oil per day, Africa only refines about 40% of its 4.3 million barrels daily consumption of refined products domestically.
In stark contrast, Europe and Asia refine over 95% of what they consume. (vitalnewsngr.com)
