Dangote vows to crash petrol prices as MRS sells fuel at ₦739
Africa’s richest man has vowed to crash petrol prices after accusing fuel marketers and regulators of deliberately keeping pump prices high to frustrate his refinery.
Barring a last-minute change, MRS and other retail partners of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery are set to begin selling petrol at ₦739 a litre, just days after the refinery slashed its ex-depot price from ₦828 to ₦699.
Speaking angrily at a press briefing at his Lekki refinery on Sunday, Aliko Dangote said some filling stations were refusing to pass on lower prices to motorists, despite a significant reduction in supply costs.
He claimed certain officials had held meetings with marketers and urged them to maintain inflated pump prices, warning that his company would fight back to enforce the new rate.
According to Dangote, MRS stations will begin selling petrol at ₦739 a litre from Tuesday, with other partners expected to follow shortly afterwards. He said prices as high as ₦970 a litre would soon become a thing of the past.
Independent marketers, including members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, have also been invited to buy fuel directly from the refinery at ₦699 a litre, provided they can lift at least ten trucks.
Dangote insisted that petrol should not sell for more than ₦740 a litre anywhere in the country during December and January, stressing that transport costs from the refinery were no more than ₦10 to ₦15 per litre.
“Why should anybody be selling at ₦900?” he asked, arguing that consumers were being exploited despite falling costs.
The billionaire businessman also took aim at the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, accusing it of issuing 47 import licences for more than seven billion litres of petrol in the first quarter of 2026 — a move he said was crippling local refiners.
He warned that modular refineries were close to collapse and rejected claims that his refinery was creating a monopoly, insisting that others were free to invest in refining if it was profitable.
Dangote assured Nigerians that the ₦739 a litre price would be enforced, starting with MRS outlets in Lagos from Tuesday.
Contacted for a response, the spokesman for the regulator, George Ene-Ita, said there was “no comment for now”.