December 15, (THEWILL) — Africa’s richest man and Chairman of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Aliko Dangote, on Sunday, levelled grave allegations of corruption and economic sabotage against the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed, accusing him of paying $5 million in school fees to Swiss secondary schools for his children.
Dangote made the allegation during a news conference at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, where he called on the Federal Government to immediately investigate the lifestyle and financial dealings of the petroleum regulator, insisting that the expenditure was inconsistent with Ahmed’s known income.
According to the billionaire industrialist, the alleged $5 million was spent on the secondary school education of four of Ahmed’s children over a six-year period, a cost he said raised serious questions about integrity, conflicts of interest and regulatory oversight in Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector.
“I’ve had people actually complaining about a regulator who put his children in secondary school, and that secondary school education, which is six years, four of them cost Nigeria $5 million. My children went to a Nigerian secondary school. They didn’t go outside Nigeria to attend secondary school”, he said, questioning how a public officer could afford such fees.
Dangote further alleged that one of Ahmed’s children recently completed studies at Harvard University, arguing that such expenses did not align with the earnings of a public servant and suggested that Nigeria was being “destroyed” by officials whose lifestyles exceeded their legitimate income.
Calling for due process, Dangote said Ahmed should not be summarily sacked but must be given the opportunity to clear his name through a transparent investigation by relevant authorities, including the Code of Conduct Bureau.
“He doesn’t need to be sacked. But let him clear that he has not compromised his various positions in government at the cost of Nigerians, when a lot of people in Sokoto can’t even go to school because of ₦100,000”, he said.
Dangote warned, however, that should the NMDPRA chief deny the allegation, he would pursue legal action against the Swiss schools involved to compel disclosure of the exact fees paid.
“If he denies it, I will not only publish what he paid as tuition in those secondary schools, I will also sue those schools to publish how much of the fees he has paid for all the time that they were there”, Dangote declared.
Beyond the controversy, Dangote also announced further relief for Nigerians at the pumps, assuring that the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) would fall to not more than N740 per litre from Tuesday, starting in Lagos.
THEWILL earlier reported that the Dangote Refinery slashed its petrol gantry price, cutting the ex-depot rate from ₦828 to ₦699 per litre.
“We will enforce the low price. We will make sure of that”, Dangote assured on Sunday, noting that the refinery was working around the clock to ensure price reductions were fully reflected at the retail level.
He also revealed that the refinery had reduced its minimum purchase requirement from two million litres to 500,000 litres, opening access to more marketers, including members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN).
Highlighting quality differences, he said fuel from the refinery was straight-run PMS, unlike blended imports, stressing that Nigerians now had a choice between better quality fuel at a lower price or higher-priced imported products.
“Importers can continue to lose, so long as Nigerians benefit”, Dangote said.
As of press time, the NMDPRA had yet to respond to Dangote’s allegations.
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