Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has offered a blunt explanation for the recurring mismatch between the monthly fuel production figures released by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the actual output of the Dangote Refinery—accusing the system of confusing evacuation with production.
Speaking pointedly on the controversy, Dangote said the figures being circulated by the regulator reflect only what is taken out of the refinery, not what is produced inside it, creating what he described as misleading public narratives around the refinery’s performance.
“The regulator, Farouk, is very smart,” Dangote remarked. “What he is doing is only telling Nigerians what was being taken out of the refinery. What has been taken out is totally different from what has been produced.”
According to him, the distinction is critical. While production refers to the volume of refined products manufactured within the plant, evacuation depends on logistics, storage capacity, market demand and scheduling—factors that can significantly lag behind actual output.
Dangote revealed that after months of growing frustration over what he called persistent misinformation, the refinery formally invited the regulator to step in directly.
“When we got tired of all this misleading information, we wrote him a letter telling him to come every day to check our stock and publish what we produce and what we have in stock,” he said.
The statement is the clearest pushback yet from the Dangote Group against official data that has repeatedly sparked debates over whether the $20 billion mega-refinery is truly delivering on its promise to stabilise Nigeria’s fuel supply.
Industry analysts say the dispute highlights a deeper transparency problem in Nigeria’s energy reporting framework, where evacuation data is often mistaken by the public as production capacity—fueling speculation, doubt and political controversy.
With Dangote throwing the doors open to daily inspections, attention now shifts to the regulator: will NMDPRA accept the challenge and align its figures with on-site verification?
For a nation hungry for clarity in its energy transition, the numbers—and how they are reported—may now matter as much as the fuel itself.
