Worried about the suspicious fire outbreak at a section of the multi-billion dollars worth Dangote Refinery, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to order twenty fours hours impregnable security around the facilities.
HURIWA also called on Nigerians to speak out in defence of Dangote Refinery and demand from the Nigerian Government an elevated security system to safeguard the facilities of Dangote Refinery from being sabotaged.
The Rights group alleged that insiders’ in the government of Nigeria are being deployed as agents by the international oil companies operating in the Country to sabotage Dangote Refinery which is a national pride and an invaluable heritage that must be protected by all means.
In a statement, HURIWA through the National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, asked Tinubu to order the National Security Adviser (NSA) and the Department of State Services (DSS) to investigate the remote and immediate circumstances that occasioned the inferno in a section of Dangote Refinery barely 24 hours that an alarm emerged about an active plot to sabotage the operations of the refinery.
“We are therefore urging the Nigerian government to categorise the Dangote Refinery as a national heritage that must be accorded the highest security cover so saboteurs and even fifth columnists inside of the NNPCL and other Petroleum related Regulatory agencies, are not deployed to destroy the commercial entity known as Dangote Refinery which is a national pride for all of Nigeria and Nigerians collectively.
“Dangote Refinery has come to offer alternative and affordable sources of energy and fuel to domestic consumers in Nigeria and to help re-engineer and re-energise the local economy of Nigeria. Everything under the authority of the central government must be done to provide effective, efficient and comprehensive security cover to Dangote Refinery.
“Let no harm be allowed to destroy Dangote Refinery. This is our country and we must protect our local businesses and allow them to blossom,” the group added.
HURIWA recalled that few days back, the Dangote Refinery through its chieftain had said that International Oil Companies (IOCs) were deliberately and wilfully frustrating the refinery’s efforts to buy local crude by jerking up high premium price above the market price, thereby forcing it to import crude from countries as far as United States, with its attendant high costs.
Speaking to a group of Energy Editors at a one-day training programme organised by the Dangote Group, Edwin also lamented the activity of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) in granting licences indiscriminately to marketers to import dirty refined products into the country.
He said: “The Federal Government issued 25 licences to build refineries and we are the only ones that delivered on promise. In effect, we deserve every support from the government. It is good to note that from the start of production, more than 3.5 billion litres, which represents 90 per cent of our production, have been exported.
“We are calling on the Federal Government and regulators to give us the necessary support in order to create jobs and prosperity for the nation.”
HURIWA, which endorsed the sentiments expressed by Dangote Refinery that it must be supported, therefore wondered why the NMDPRA is backing the IOCs operating in Nigeria by subjectively denying the allegations by Dangote Refinery that it is issuing import licences indiscriminately to marketer’s despite the country’s capacity to refine diesel.
The group called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to undertake immediate investigative action with the aim of safeguarding the corporate interest of Dangote Refinery which is Nigeria’s national pride.
HURIWA carpeted the publicly owned NMDPRA for failing to defend Nigeria’s national interest which the safety, stability and continuous successful operations of the Dangote Refinery represents but has instead taken sides with the IOCs who are been accused of plotting active sabotage against Dangote Refinery.
The rights group also averred that the primary reason why there are active plots to undermine the successful take-off of the Dangote Refinery is the anti-poor and anti-people’s scheme by the hierarchy of the government controlled NMDPRA and the NNPCL to keep the costs of petrol as high as possible and therefore subject Nigerian masses to untold misery and economic adversities.
