Osamagbe Imadiyi
The Dangote Group has defended the quality and pricing of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), which is supplied by its refinery, in response to recent criticism from associations representing the petroleum industry. The group claims that its products are more reasonably priced than those offered by imports.
In a press statement signed by Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer Anthony Chiejina, Dangote Group responded to allegations made by the Petroleum Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) and the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) that imported PMS could be sold for less than Dangote’s prices.
According to Dangote, such claims are deceptive and may involve inferior products that could endanger both customers and automobiles.
According to Chiejina, “we benchmark our prices against international prices, and we believe our prices are competitive relative to the price of imports.” She also added that any attempts to undercut Dangote’s pricing would probably involve inferior imports meant to degrade the caliber of goods that Nigerians could purchase.
He also attacked the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) for lacking sufficient testing facilities, which might have allowed such inferior imports to get into the Nigerian market unnoticed. Dangote Refinery demonstrated its dedication to low prices by revealing that it set its PMS price below the post-deregulation benchmark set by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
However, NNPC charges N971 and N990 per liter for PMS, while Dangote charges N960 per liter for ships and N990 for trucks. Dangote urged the public to ignore any “deliberate disinformation” being disseminated to sabotage the refinery’s efforts, restating the group’s goal to provide Nigerians with high-quality and reasonably priced PMS.