Speaking during a Tuesday tour of the Dangote Refinery and Dangote Fertiliser Limited, Lagos NLC chairperson, Comrade Funmi Sessi, said it was “senseless” that a country with abundant crude reserves was still making its largest local refinery import or pay for crude in foreign currency.
The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has urged the Nigerian government to stop forcing the Dangote Petroleum Refinery to buy crude oil in US dollars, insisting the policy undermines the promise of lower fuel prices for Nigerians.
Speaking during a Tuesday tour of the Dangote Refinery and Dangote Fertiliser Limited, Lagos NLC chairperson, Comrade Funmi Sessi, said it was “senseless” that a country with abundant crude reserves was still making its largest local refinery import or pay for crude in foreign currency.
“This country has crude oil in abundance. So why is Dangote still being made to import crude or pay for it in hard currency?” Sessi asked.
“If the government is truly committed to reducing fuel prices and supporting local refining, it must sell crude oil to Dangote in naira.”
The labour leader said sourcing crude locally in the local currency would slash operating costs and create room for a sustainable drop in petrol prices.
With a daily processing capacity of 650,000 barrels, the $20 billion refinery can serve Nigeria and even export to West Africa, she added.
The NLC described the refinery as a “transformative national asset” capable of bridging Nigeria’s fuel supply gap, boosting employment, and reviving public faith in the country’s industrial potential.
Sessi also credited Dangote’s entry into the market with stabilising the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) after the FG scrapped petrol subsidies last year.
“It wasn’t until Dangote came into the picture that we started seeing some relief. His intervention significantly crashed the escalated prices of PMS and other refined products. That’s a clear demonstration of private sector leadership,” she said.
The union applauded Dangote for producing Euro 5-compliant fuel — with low sulphur content meeting global environmental standards — and for exporting fertiliser, which it said could help boost food security and cut agricultural import dependence.
Vice President for Oil and Gas at Dangote Industries Limited, Devakumar Edwin, revealed that the company would deploy 4,000 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)-powered trucks to distribute fuel nationwide, aiming to cut transport costs — a major component of the pump price.
“The deployment of these 4,000 CNG-powered trucks will help us pass down the benefits of domestic refining and the reduction in product prices to consumers,” Edwin said, stressing that the plan was to improve logistics efficiency, not edge out other players.
Edwin argued the refinery would trigger new private investments in Nigeria’s downstream oil sector, much like Dangote Cement spurred competition from BUA, Mangal and Lafarge in the cement industry.
He also said the group had trained hundreds of Nigerian engineers, scientists, and technicians now working worldwide, adding that Aliko Dangote “remains a patriotic Nigerian dedicated to the nation’s progress.”