President Brice Oligui Nguema of Gabon has invited Africa’s wealthiest man, Aliko Dangote, to invest in his country.

According to Dangote Industries Limited, the billionaire was asked to explore investment opportunities in Cement and Fertiliser (Urea and Phosphate).

“President Brice Oligui Nguema of Gabon has invited the President and Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Aliko Dangote to invest in Cement and Fertiliser production in Gabon,” Dangote Group said in a statement.

“The President urged Dangote to explore potential investment opportunities in the country’s cement and fertilizer sectors, specifically urea and phosphate production.

According to the statement, Dangote conversed with Nguema and other top government officials during the visit.

“The talks focused on how Dangote Industries could contribute to Gabon’s economic growth by establishing cement and fertilizer plants, which are vital for the country’s infrastructure development and agricultural productivity,” Dangote Group said.

Monthly Subsidy: Oil marketers project a monthly subsidy of about N707 billion due to the high landing cost of petrol

Landing Cost: The landing cost of petrol is N1,117 per liter, which is the main reason for the high monthly subsidy

Dangote Refinery: The Dangote Petroleum Refinery is expected to begin petrol production in August, but the company might export the product due to crude oil supply crisis and regulatory challenges

Government Intervention:  The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, met with officials of Dangote refinery and other stakeholders to address the concerns between Dangote refinery and oil sector regulators and operators

House of Representatives: The House of Representatives inaugurated an investigative committee to look into the non-availability of crude oil to domestic refineries and allegations of deliberate hike in the cost of the product for profiteering

The House of Representatives has requested for the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Authority (NMDPRA) to be suspended while thorough investigations are conducted into the allegations against the Authority.

After Honorable Esosa Iyawe raised a motion of urgent public importance in the House regarding the immediate necessity to resolve the outage caused by what he referred to as reckless remarks from him, this action was taken.

Hon. Iyawe said, “In their defence, Dangote called for a test of their products, which was supervised by Members of the House of Representatives, wherein it was revealed that Dangote’s diesel had a Sulphur content of 87.6 ppm (parts per million), whereas the other two samples diesel imported showed Sulphur levels exceeding 1800 ppm and 2000 ppm respectively, thus disproving the allegations made by the NMDPRA boss.

“Allegations have been made that the NMDPRA was giving licences to some traders who regularly import high-Sulphur content diesel into Nigeria, and the use of such products poses grave health risks and huge financial losses for Nigerians.

“The unguarded statements by the Chief Executive of the NMDPRA, which has since been disproved, sparked an outrage from Nigerians who tagged his undermining of local refineries and insistence on the continued importation of fuel an act of economic sabotage, as the imported products have been shown to contain high levels of dangerous compounds.”