₦airaland Forum

Psalmistproject:
This guy wants to monopolize fuel distribution.

It won't work o.

Fuel no be cement. Any fim e don burn to ashes.

I'm giving him 5 years, he'll sell off all the trucks to independent distributors.

Bad belle. It won’t happen.

NothingDoMe:
"They will produce low-value fuel oil, which is not needed today, so it will be a loss"

It's there in digital ink!

Comprehension should be made a national priority in Nigerian schools. When you read any article, try to understand the context and decode the terms being used. If some of the jargon is new to you, look it up in a dictionary or use Google/AI chatbots.

I’ll help break this one down.

When you refine a barrel of crude oil, you get a lot of outputs: LPG, petrol, kerosene, aviation fuel, heating fuel oils, marine fuel oil, etc. A refinery can be optimized to produce more of one product than another, depending on the target market. For example, petrol is the main product that sells the most in Nigeria today. So what Dangote is saying is that his refinery is optimized to produce more petrol than other products. (From one barrel, about 54% of the output is petrol, while the remaining 46% is made up of other products combined.)

Some refineries may be optimized to produce more aviation fuel if that’s the market they want to serve. For instance, if you have a refinery in Ethiopia, you might want to focus on aviation fuel since Addis Ababa is a major aviation hub in Africa. However, in the case of NNPC, only 18% of its refinery output is petrol, while the other 82% is made up of different products. A high percentage of these are “low-value fuel oils.”

So, what are these low-value fuel oils, and why is NNPC producing so much of them? Low-value fuel oils are the heavier fractions of crude that are less valuable. Examples include heavy fuel oil and marine fuel oil. These are used to power ships, boilers in industries, and older power generation plants. I’m not sure why the NNPC refineries were optimized to produce so much of these products, but my guess is that when they were built in the 1970s, heavy fuel oils and marine oils were in higher demand for shipping and industrial power generation. Times have changed, and newer, cleaner fuels and gases are now more economical and sustainable. Heavy oils are still in use, but demand has dropped.

With this context, what Dangote is saying is that NNPC cannot compete with his refinery because NNPC’s refineries are not optimized to produce petrol, which is the product most in demand in Nigeria, but instead produce “low-value fuel oils” that have limited demand.

lwisee:
This man has been talking too much lately.
Or is he now a content creator.
This is totally different from the very reserved Mr Aliko we know in the past.

I didn't see anywhere in the article where Dangote said that NNPC produces low-value petrol.

gidgiddy:
Let's not forget that his Grandfather was one of the richest men in the North. Dangote may have worked hard to get to where he is, but he was born into money.

Where are the other children and grandchildren of the grandfather? Always finding ways to put others down won’t help your situation.

Commentor:
If that's the case, why has the war dragged on for so long?

Abeg getat.

That is what is called Attrition warfare. If it continues like this, it will come to an end one day, and usually very quickly.

lordm:
Drones over missiles, drones are the future of warfare

And China controls more than 70%-80% of the world’s drones. No one even comes close.

Fiscus105:
Tell people who understands economic to tell you meaning of oligopolists, I already know the terminology would confused you

Meanwhile, Tell Ur Dangote to compete in the same conditions with importers and win a more dignified way, I think they say he is richest, he shouldn't fear competition nah.

Tank farm owners, tanker operators, and middlemen in the oil industry still want to continue with business as usual, not realizing that the landscape has changed and the old model is no longer sustainable. I understand it can be difficult to let go of such a lucrative business, even when it is ultimately bad for the country.

I don't think Dangote is worrying. He is doing exactly what he should be doing, which is investing in his own distribution network. He plans to supply retailers directly, free of charge. If any retailer refuses to source from him, he is prepared to enter the retail business himself and potentially push them out of the market. They are joking; they think it is easy to invest $20 billion. He will be ruteless

Fiscus105:
You should also know, nations shouldn't protect economy to the advantages of few oligopolists.

The fuel importers are the oligopolists. They contribute nothing to the country and have been holding the country hostage for years. If they want to compete as they claim, they should build their refineries here in Nigeria, employ Nigerians to refine it.

Fiscus105:
Let Dangote reduces margins of his profit by bringing price down, importers would be forced to patronise him, and let the regulators make sure the importers not allowed to bring substandard to the country, because of differences in prices.


Our concern as masses is to buy cheaper and quality petrol and less concerned about who produce the product.

This thought process is faulty. You can’t allow others to dump products in your country to undermine your local industries just so you can get cheaper price. What if they are selling the products below market value just to make sure the local industries are not viable. That is the reason countries place tariffs on imported product to give equal playing field to local industries because it is the local industries that creates wealth and jobs for the country not the imported products.

Konquest:
If they want to rush to Russia like lemmings, that's their problem or prerogative.

I CLEARLY stated my own reasons based on advanced intel available to me since the Russian-Ukraine War started. You're having a convo with a man who is well-traveled too diverse places in the world. There's NO propaganda there. This article by the OP even corroborates some of what I've known.

Some people will offer women jobs in Italy under the guise of employment agencies ONLY to end up working as prostitutes with their passports seized. A couple of years back, BBC Eye did a documentary on Kenyan women who were offered jobs in the Arabian Gulf States, ONLY to find themselves in the hands of Al-Shabab in Somalia (which shares common land boundaries with Kenya) a few got to escape years later but the damage had already been done to their psyche.

You don't know anything. If the Russian embassy tells Nigerians exactly what they will be doing in Russia, which is to build drones for them at the lowest factory worker's rate (~$350/month), the Russian embassy will be full of applicants. Thousands of Nigerians will camp there for days. Nigerians are working in significantly worse conditions in rolling mills in Lagos, earning less than N3,000 per day. And let me tell you, Russia is no more dangerous than Nigeria. Nigeria is far worse. Like I said earlier, propaganda doesn't work on poor people.

Yes, trafficking is everywhere. Even in Nigeria, people are being trafficked as house helps and prostitutes. You need to shine your eyes before you leap.

Konquest:
Anybody from Africa who's considered a Russian trip for work and studies will have himself or herself to blame at this point in the War effort. Period.

What are you saying. If Russia open their border and start to give Nigerians work visa, hundred of thousands if not millions of Nigerians will camp at their embassy for days. Forget all these propaganda here, e no dey work for Nigerians.

atobs4real:
So by age 18 years they will graduate from secondary school abi?
Nigeria is a joke
Limiting people's life to early discovery and success

In the U.S. and Canada, children typically start Grade 1 at age 6 and finish Grade 12 at age 18. Acceleration is generally discouraged; instead, advanced placement (AP) programs or other forms of academic support are encouraged.

miketayo:
Calm down with the 1 millions kms, do you know how many years it will take a vehicle to record 1m km and those trucks are mostly new.
And we talking about suv and sedans not trailers.
As your mechanic flooded cars are not the same, there is always an electric issue. Accidented cars varies if it's a write off they wont fix and send it. Most imported cars are driven out of the containers so they aren't severely damaged.

Let’s assume an average Dangote truck covers 80,000–100,000 km per year. The company imported 12,000 SinoTrucks into Nigeria back in 2014—that’s about 11 years ago. Many of those trucks have likely accumulated over a million kilometres by now..

You’re saying things without proper knowledge. I can’t speak for flooded cars, but I’m certain that most imported used cars in Nigeria are accidented vehicles. Some sources put the figure at around 70%, while others say it’s closer to 95%.

1. 95% Of Second-hand Vehicles Imported Into Nigeria Are Accidented Vehicles – Report: https://autojosh.com/95-of-second-hand-vehicles-imported-into-nigeria-are-accidented-vehicles-report/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

2. Over 70% imported cars to Nigeria are accidented – Clearing Agent: https://naturenews.africa/over-70-imported-cars-to-nigeria-are-accidented-clearing-agent/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

miketayo:
My point is most of the cars cant be accidented or flooded cars, they wont last long on Nigerian roads

Most used cars imported to Nigeria are obtained from auctions, which are mainly cars defined as severely damaged and deemed unrepairable by insurance companies.

And what is so special about Nigerian roads? All those Dangote trucks are Chinese, and they go over 1 million km.

ishayaauta:
the challenge is not getting it, what happens to spear parts availability, I fancy a lot of American brands, but omo! kazeem go use you see weyting no good at all

That's how you fail exams.

miketayo:
I don't believe most.. a flooded or accidented car can't last 10 years on Nigerian road.
There are cars of more than 3 Nigerian users being sold and they came in as tokunbo

If not stolen cars, most of these Toks cars are accident cars. The cost of fixing cars is very high in Canada and the US. Sometimes, it is cheaper for the insurance company to pay out the market value of the car to the owner and recover some of it from the auction than to repair it.

Taiwan and Gaza comes to my mind. They are not recognised as countries and millions of people live there.

CodeTemplarr:
Three headlines about russia and immigrants in leas than 24hr. WriterNG.

I don’t it is free. Nairaland is earning money to push it. You can see that all the news has useless sources.

@Seun, propaganda has reached Nairaland. Just so difficult to get objective news nowadays, especially when related to geopolitics.

BlackViper:
The ads said Alabuga Start sought “talented people from all over the world,” especially women between 18 and 22. The ads also endorsed the benefits of a work-study program in fields such as catering or hospitality. In one video, an African woman arrives in Alabuga and begins work at a restaurant, where she waits on a young Russian man. She later returns to the restaurant as his pregnant wife.

Yet if Russia open door for Nigerians, half of the country will empty. Propaganda don’t work on poor Africans.

onuman:
But the 3 Gourges dam is only the 27th largest dam in the world.

It’s the Three Gorges Dam and it’s by far the largest dam in the world.

Just one year? If you try this one in China, 20 years minimum.

muyico:
Congratulations to Dangote bcus enriching his pocket not Nigerians

He is a businessman, why will he put money in other people’s pocket. And FYI, he is doing more for Nigeria and creating jobs for more Nigerians than single person alive today.

Nigeria, long known as Africa’s biggest importer of refined petroleum products, has ceded that position to South Africa, marking a dramatic shift in the continent’s energy landscape.

The development follows the operational ramp-up of Aliko Dangote’s massive oil refinery, which began large-scale production in 2024 and is already reshaping trade flows across sub-Saharan Africa.

The $20 billion Dangote Refinery, situated on the outskirts of Lagos, boasts a refining capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, making it the largest single-train refinery in the world.

Its gradual increase in output has significantly cut Nigeria’s reliance on imported petrol, disrupting the long-established pattern where the continent’s top oil producer sent crude overseas to be refined and reimported at high cost.

According to energy consultancy CITAC, Nigeria imported 3.1 million tons of refined petroleum products in the first quarter of 2025, a sharp drop compared to previous years. In contrast, South Africa brought in 4.2 million tons over the same period, cementing its new status as Africa’s largest fuel importer.

“Nigerian imports are dropping as a result of the continued operation of Dangote,” said Elitsa Georgieva, executive director at CITAC. “Since the beginning of this year, South African imports have been consistently highest in sub-Saharan Africa.”

The refinery’s impact reflects a broader ambition across the continent to boost domestic refining capacity and reduce dependence on foreign supplies.

Countries like Uganda, Angola, and Mozambique have launched projects aimed at increasing local processing capabilities.

Yet, even with vast oil reserves, translating ambition into operational output has proven difficult, a reality Dangote’s lengthy journey demonstrates well.

The Dangote Refinery faced multiple delays, cost overruns, and logistical challenges before finally coming online. But its operation represents a milestone for Nigeria’s energy security and trade balance.

For decades, the country paradoxically relied on imported petrol despite producing over 1.3 million barrels of crude oil per day. That dynamic has begun to change, even if modestly, with Dangote’s facility absorbing more of the country’s domestic crude and reducing the need for costly imports.

Still, this progress comes at a time when South Africa finds itself increasingly reliant on fuel imports. Despite once possessing substantial refining infrastructure, nearly half of the nation’s refining capacity has been shut down since 2020 due to industrial accidents, ageing equipment, and a chronic lack of investment. According to Transnet SOC Ltd, South Africa’s state-run logistics firm, imports now supply more than 60 percent of the nation’s fuel demand.

To make matters worse, the country’s largest refinery, Sapref, a joint venture between Shell Plc and BP Plc, was idled in 2022. While the government purchased the facility in 2023 in hopes of reviving it, no timeline for a restart has been confirmed.

With local refining largely stagnant, traders such as Glencore Plc and Vitol SA have seized the opportunity to ramp up deliveries to South Africa. CITAC projects that the country will import around 15.5 million tons of refined products in 2025, nearly twice as much as Kenya (8.9 million tons) and more than double Nigeria’s projected imports of 6.4 million tons.

This has made South Africa an increasingly attractive market for global fuel suppliers. Swiss commodities giant Gunvor was among those shortlisted to acquire Shell’s downstream retail network in South Africa, signalling growing international interest in the country’s fuel distribution sector.

“South Africa’s infrastructure is mature, but its refining shortfall is now attracting foreign traders who can bridge the gap,” said one industry executive familiar with the negotiations.

Despite losing its title as Africa’s top fuel importer, Nigeria stands to benefit significantly from the rise of the Dangote Refinery. Reduced import dependency could bolster the naira, ease pressure on foreign exchange reserves, and improve trade balances. For the Nigerian government, which has historically subsidised fuel imports at great fiscal cost, this represents a potential turning point.

For South Africa, the import surge brings both risks and opportunities. While it ensures fuel availability in the short term, reliance on foreign supply exposes the country to price shocks, currency volatility, and supply chain disruptions.

Source: https://businessday.ng/energy/oilandgas/article/dangote-ends-nigerias-reign-as-africas-biggest-petrol-importer/

heniford2:
Is coming Russia will receive it like never before be watching

Nothing can change the tide of the war as it is unless NATO is prepared to put boots on the ground. Aside this, nothing, that’s the absolute truth.

As India and Pakistan traded missile strikes over the weekend, and the world watched with horror as the two nuclear-armed neighbours erupted into open conflict, military analysts spotted something curious. Pakistan, it seemed, had used Chinese jets to shoot down India’s planes.

Last week, India launched missiles at Pakistan, in retaliation for a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir in April that killed 26 people. The conflict escalated with mutual strikes and drone attacks.

Pakistan claimed to have shot down several Indian air force fighter jets with Chinese-made missiles fired from Chinese-made J10-C jets. The Pakistani foreign minister Ishaq Dar told parliament the Pakistani-flown fighters had taken down India’s French-made Rafales. Dar said he had informed the Chinese and they were pleased. China’s social media celebrated.

Supporters of the Pakistan People's Party throw flower petals and celebrating ceasefire.
From missiles to ceasefire: how India and Pakistan pulled back from the brink
Read more
The use of J-10Cs by Pakistan would mark the first time the Chinese planes – and the PL-15 missiles they were carrying – have been used in combat anywhere in the world, giving military analysts a rare glimpse of their capabilities, and China’s military, the PLA, a crucial test case.

“Any state producing or buying weapons is keen to see how the product does in real conflict. Tests and exercises can tell most about capabilities of weapons, but the ultimate test is often combat,” said Siemon Wezeman, a senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri).

China is a crucial ally of Pakistan. Sipri estimates that it is Pakistan’s biggest military weapons supplier, providing more than 80% of its stock from fighter jets to navy vessels and missiles.

Andrew Small, a Berlin-based senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, said China gets particular benefit from seeing its weapons used against western equivalents. “It gives them a chance to assess their performance under far more complex and challenging conditions than usual, and with Pakistan this is not just about the fighter jets themselves, it’s about the missiles, the radar systems, and the whole technology spine of the Pakistani military, from electronic warfare capabilities to satellite systems.”

It’s not just western arms that China’s planes are being tested against. India has the support of both China’s biggest rival, the US, and its closest ally, Russia, which supplies 36% of India’s arms imports.

But analysts says it has provided a wake-up call about China’s military capabilities as it threatens to annex Taiwan.

“We may need to reassess the PLA’s air combat capabilities, which may be approaching or even surpassing the level of US air power deployments in east Asia,” Shu Hsiao-Huang, an associate research fellow at the Taiwan defence ministry-linked Institute of National Defense and Security Research, told Bloomberg.

Under the rule of Xi Jinping, China’s military has been modernising and expanding, with a goal to be capable of an air and land invasion of Taiwan by 2027.

Hu Xijin, the former editor of the nationalistic Chinese state-linked tabloid Global Times, said the incident showed Taiwan should feel “even more scared”.

Part of China’s contingency planning is an expectation that the US military and potentially others would be involved in defending Taiwan.

Yun Sun, director of the China programme at the Stimson Center, said the two combat theatres were not directly comparable, as a Taiwan invasion would probably involve more input from the navy, marines and army than this month’s limited conflict between India and Pakistan.

“And technically, India did not use American weapon systems during this round,” Sun said. “But the surprising victory of Chinese J-10 and PL-15 [missiles] will force people to reconsider the military balance of power in the event of a Taiwan contingency.”

The apparent success of the J-10C against the Rafales also boosts China’s reputation as a manufacturer and seller of weapons. While China is the world’s fourth largest arms exporter, more than half goes to Pakistan and the rest is mostly to smaller developed nations. It must work around US sanctions.

The share price of Chengdu Aircraft Corporation, which makes the J-10Cs, soared on the news.

Small said Pakistan was often seen as a showcase for Chinese weapons.

“A good performance demonstrates to others the benefits of maintaining a close partnership with Beijing as PLA capabilities advance, especially given the rumours that China provided Pakistan, one of its closest strategic partners, with versions of the PL-15 missiles that have a longer range than the usual export variant,” he said.

Wezeman said the shooting was too limited to draw a lot of firm conclusions about the state of China’s military, which has also been mired in corruption scandals in recent years.

“That said, the clash seems to support a general assessment that Chinese weapons are proving to have become a match for western weapons.”

China’s military and government have neither denied nor celebrated the J-10C claims. The foreign ministry said when asked that it was “not familiar” with the J-10C situation.

But on Tuesday China’s vice-foreign minister Sun Weidong met with Pakistan’s ambassador to China, Khalil Hashmi. “China welcomes and supports Pakistan and India achieving a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire,” a foreign ministry statement said.

“China is ready to continue to play a constructive role in this regard.”

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/14/pakistans-use-of-j-10c-jets-and-missiles-exposes-potency-of-chinese-arms

Iweakbro:
This is a non-factual take. Are you a little kid? Go to YouTube and check China Uncensored, so you can learn the effect of the tariffs on Chinese companies whose market was the IS.

I won't trust a channel like that on anything

DenreleDave:
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/india-shoots-down-pakistan-air-forces-awac-all-about-the-surveillance-jet-2721855-2025-05-08

Another Indian propaganda. No other independent source has confirmed this happened. At least one will mentioned it.

On the contrary, there has been a few independent sources that two Indian fighter
(the French Rafale) jets were downed a few days ago.

Nodogragra4me:
It like YOu dint know that India is a leader in IT ..GLOBALLY ...From Google to virtually all leading global It driven firms

You don’t know what you are talking about. Google is an American company and how does it have anything to do with India.

Can you please tell me one core IT technology that India owns or make?

omoredia:
India is the leader in terms of IT. Pakistan won't last a hi-tech war

Lol! Leader kwa? How are they leader and don’t have any core technology in IT. They are just a glorified IT service Centre.

ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON, May 8 (Reuters) - A top Chinese-made Pakistani fighter plane shot down at least two Indian military aircraft on Wednesday, two U.S. officials told Reuters, marking a major milestone for Beijing's advanced fighter jet.
An Indian Air Force spokesperson said he had no comment when asked about the Reuters report.

The performance of a leading Chinese fighter jet against a Western rival is being closely watched in Washington for insights into how Beijing might fare in any showdown over Taiwan or the wider Indo-Pacific. One U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was high confidence that Pakistan had used the Chinese-made J-10 aircraft to launch air-to-air missiles against Indian fighter jets - bringing down at least two.
Another official said at least one Indian jet that was shot down was a French-made Rafale fighter aircraft.
Both officials said Pakistan's F-16 aircraft, made by Lockheed Martin (LMT.N), opens new tab, were not used in the shootdown.
Delhi has not acknowledged the loss of any of its planes and instead said it carried out successful strikes against what it said was "terrorist" infrastructure inside Pakistan.

World powers from the U.S. to Russia and China have called for calm in one of the world's most dangerous, and most populated, nuclear flashpoint regions.
In France, Rafale manufacturer Dassault Aviation (AM.PA), opens new tab and the MBDA (AIR.PA), opens new tab, (BAES.L), opens new tab, (LDOF.MI), opens new tab consortium, which makes the Meteor air-to-air missile, could not immediately be reached for comment on a public holiday.
While Reuters reported on Wednesday that three Indian planes went down, citing local government officials in India, this marks the first Western confirmation that Pakistan's Chinese-made jets were used in the shootdowns.
Pakistan’s Defense minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, told Reuters on Thursday that the J-10 was used to shoot down three French-made Rafale planes, which were newly acquired by India.
Altogether, Pakistan says it downed five Indian planes in air-to-air combat.

CLOSELY EYING
The Rafale and the model of the J-10 used by Pakistan are both considered generation 4.5 fighter jets, placing them at the leading edge of combat aircraft.
Western analysts and defense industry sources said the live use of some of the advanced weapons that could be deployed in future major power conflicts would be scrutinized in minute detail, but emphasized it was too early to draw firm conclusions.
"Air warfare communities in China, the U.S. and a number of European countries will be extremely interested to try and get as much ground truth as they can on tactics, techniques, procedures, what kit was used, what worked and what didn't," said Douglas Barrie, senior fellow for military aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/pakistans-chinese-made-jet-brought-down-two-indian-fighter-aircraft-us-officials-2025-05-08/

SIRTee15:
China only import raw materials from other countries. They don't need your finished products because they can produce whatever it is cheaper and faster if not better.

No country can develop by exporting raw materials. I think say na by joke western countries are crying. China has eaten away all their manufacturing capacity, even Germany is now sweating despite being an industrial machine.

It’s not true to say that China only imports raw materials from other countries. Like any economy, China cannot produce everything domestically and therefore imports a wide range of finished products from nations with technological expertise or a competitive advantage. In fact, many of China’s top imports from countries like Japan, South Korea, and the European Union are advanced finished goods, not raw materials. China tends to focus its production efforts on items where it faces export restrictions or where it can gain strategic control, but it remains a major buyer of finished products globally.

Similarly, the idea that countries cannot develop by exporting raw materials is also not entirely true. Many nations that are heavily reliant on raw material exports have built strong, stable economies. A few notable examples include: Australia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Russia, Canada, Indonesia, etc.

Wimkeh:
Abeg oh. Don’t give China your dollar oh.

China will not import anything from you oh. They’ll only export and collect your dollar.

Yet, China imported more than $2.5 trillion of products from other countries last year. Only less than what US imported which is more than $3 trillion. No other country even come close, no other country imported up to $1 trillion.

Yes, China export a lot but the fact that China doesn’t import is a fallacy.