The President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, Festus Osifo, has urged caution over broad claims of sabotage in the oil and gas sector, stressing that issues raised by the President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, should be clearly deconstructed and addressed through strong institutions.
Osifo spoke with Channels Television on Sunday, following Dangote’s repeated allegations of sabotage and regulatory failures, including a call for an investigation of the ex-Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed, over alleged personal expenditures.
Dangote had accused Ahmed of paying approximately $5 million for the secondary school education of his four children in Switzerland, calling for “a full investigation and public explanation” regarding the payments.
Commenting on the sabotage claims, Osifo said, “The word sabotage is very huge. It’s very big. So what would have been done properly was to deconstruct it, open it up.”
He warned that general accusations could harm the industry, adding, “Sabotage could mean a lot of things. But you come down to say X is doing this, Y is doing this, and it will affect our industry, or it’s going to affect our operations.”
He emphasised the need for strong institutions over individual blame, stating, “For us, as a country, we must build institutions and not individuals.
“We must be able to have institutions, regulators who are strong, who are solid, and who are also able and willing to support businesses to grow, and to also ensure that those businesses operate within the ambit of the law.”
Highlighting regulators such as the NMDPRA and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, he said they “must be strong, must be built, and must be solid.”
While describing the Dangote Refinery as “something of joy” and “something of pride” for Nigeria, Osifo noted that its operations must be based on cooperation.
“There must be synergy between the management of the refinery and the government institutions. The regulators should understand that it is their responsibility to ensure that the refinery would grow. It is also the responsibility of those managing the refinery to understand that there is a regulator they must work with,” he said.
On the Ahmed issue, Osifo stressed that the matter goes beyond an individual, noting, “Engineer Farouk reports to the Minister of Petroleum… anybody occupying that position will not do things clearly outside what the President has asked him to do.”
He acknowledged competing interests in the sector, explaining that while Dangote seeks to stop fuel imports, importers also have arguments, and regulators must balance these to ensure energy security.
“One person will be able to align all these interests together for the benefit of not just the industry, but the benefit of the entire Nigerians, and that person is actually the Minister of Petroleum Resources,” he said.
PUNCH Online had reported that Dangote, on December 14, had alleged that criminal networks in the oil sector have repeatedly sabotaged his refinery.
Speaking at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lekki, Lagos, he said, “I told you that drug mafia, they’re actually smaller than the people who are in oil and gas… There are so many people.”
He disclosed that his refinery has suffered losses of about $82 million due to thefts and sabotage, including the removal of a critical spare part from a 400-ton boiler while in operation.
“That’s why we have more security people in this refinery than actual workers of the refinery,” Dangote said, adding, “They have destroyed the pipes, all of them… If it’s not sabotage, is that an earthquake?… It’s sabotage.”
Dangote said the sabotage and obstruction by what he termed an “oil mafia” are part of a broader effort by local marketers and international traders to frustrate domestic refining, noting that both groups prefer to profit from imports rather than allow local production to succeed.
Osifo concluded that the sector requires institutional alignment, calling on the Minister of Petroleum Resources to bring all stakeholders together.
“One person will be able to align all these interests together for the benefit of not just the industry, but the benefit of the entire Nigerians… All stakeholders must sit down together, discuss challenges, and come up with concrete decisions that will benefit the 230 million Nigerians,” he said.
