The Dangote Petrol Price War-Who Rakes In N310 Naira Per Litre Of Petrol From The Pocket Of Nigerians

By Femi Oniyide Esq

Mr President must be made aware of what Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the President of Dangote Refinery, said at the Press Conference he held and was reported in the Punch Newspaper story of December 15, 2025 with the headline: ” DANGOTE NAMES N739 AS NEW PETROL PUMP PRICE”.

Someone must bring that story to the ears of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The news is sizzling hot, horrid, horrible and horrifying !No ! It’s not the news you are expecting to hear.

No. It’s not the news about the school fees of the children of the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).

That’s not it but it’s also about the NMDPRA itself. It’s a subtle bombshell thrown by the richest African but of which virtually everyone has really not read it or not deciphered it.

In the second to the last paragraph of the article quoted above by the Punch Newspaper, Alhaji Aliko Dangote spoke about the gantry price of petrol per litre at the Dangote Refinery.

He said *”We are selling at N699 (per litre). The N699 includes the percentage of NMDPRA. So what actually comes to us is about N389 or so”* per litre.

That’s a huge revelation ! That’s a news that I was at first unable to digest until I remembered that in a televised programme I participated in on the 4th of November, 2025 on News Central TV, I vehemently said that Nigerians shouldn’t be paying anything above N500 per litre of petrol going by the statistics I got and analysed upon by the University of Calgary, Canada.

I also wrote an article on October 22, 2024 titled: “What do Nigerians gain from the Naira for Crude Oil deal with Dangote Refinery”. It was an analysis I used to break down the cost and revenue that are likely to be spent or accruing to Dangote Refinery in the refining of crude oil.

Since 2024 I have marvelled at the price that Nigerians pay for petrol after the establishment of the Dangote Refinery. It ranged from N1,000 plus to N977 to N828 and as recently announced by the President of Dangote Refinery, N739 per litre !

So, Dangote announced that from Tuesday the 16th of December 2025, petrol per litre at DRL Gantry will be N699 and at MRS Petrol Stations at N739 per litre.

I say thank you Alhaji Aliko Dangote !

But my thanks though ascribes partly to the lesser price of petrol per litre but the real thanks is in the revelation that the NMDPRA, may be solely or with other agencies, collects a percentage of about N310 Naira per litre of petrol right there at the Gantry of Dangote Refinery !

Please, I am totally relying on the words of Alhaji Aliko Dangote in his Press Conference reported by the Punch Newspaper of December 15, 2025. Let me repeat it here.

He said: *”…We are selling at N699. The N699 includes the percentage of NMDPRA. So what actually comes to us is about N389 or so”.

So, if Dangote collects as it’s price, only N389 per litre of petrol at the refinery’s gantry and sells to buyers at N699 per litre of petrol, the question then is whether it is only the NMDPRA that collects the rest price of N310 per litre of petrol that Nigerians pay for ?

Dangote said: “The N699 includes the percentage of NMDPRA”

The question then is whether it is only NMDPRA that collects the residual price of N310 Naira per litre or are there other Agencies collecting some amount out of the N310 Naira per litre ?

Who exactly are those Agencies or Individuals sharing out of the N310 Naira per litre of petrol out of the N699 per litre charged by Dangote Refinery at its Gantry ?

This question is salient than any other questions that Alhaji Aliko Dangote may have raised in his most revealing Press Conference.

Why ?

The reason why answers are needed for this salient question is for the fact that the price per litre of petrol affects everything about the economy and the comfort and prosperity of Nigerians and the government.

The press conference also revealed that transportation of petroleum products from the refinery to any petrol station in Lagos is between N10 and N15.

So, let’s do a little arithmetic here. If we add N699 Naira Gantry price to N15 for transport to a petrol station in Lagos that will give us N714 Naira of the cost by the petrol station to purchase the petrol per litre.

So, like Dangote said, if MRS Petrol Stations and its other allied petrol stations now sell at N739 per litre of petrol, there is a profit of N25 per litre of petrol to the petrol station.

So, now let’s consider the fact raised by Dangote that what accrues to the refinery is “N389”, then let’s also consider that the N310 Naira “percentage of NMDPRA” is erased, then let’s add up the N389 per litre collected by DRL to N15 Naira transportation to any petrol station in Lagos and add that up to the N25 Naira profit margin calculated above, the total cost of petrol per litre to Nigerians will be just N429 Naira per litre of petrol !

Let’s now move further that the regulator, NMDPRA, should also function, then about N50 Naira per litre should be enough for it’s regulatory efforts as that is N1.5 Million Naira per 30,000 litres truckload of petrol and that translates to just N479 per litre of petrol in Lagos.

Then the question will be what tax exactly does the government want to charge Nigerians per litre of petrol ? *Is the government charging Nigerians N260 Naira per litre of petrol as tax ?

Or who are those exactly charging Nigerians an extra cost of N310 Naira per litre of petrol ?

Let’s further do some arithmetic on how much this N310 per litre is. A 30,000 Truckload of petrol means N9.3 Million Naira per truck to whatever Agency(ies) that collects such a fee.

That means about N12 Billion Naira per day if as being variously speculated, Nigerians consume up to 40 Million litres of petrol per day. That’s humongously humongous.

Or, I don’t really get the arithmetic of exactly what Alhaji Aliko Dangote is talking about at his Press Conference of 15th December, 2025 ?

Like I postulated at the beginning of this analysis, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should be made to hear of the above arithmetic regarding what exactly Nigerians may be paying above board for a litre of petrol.

The President’s enduring mantra is a Renewed Hope for Nigerians and I believe that if Mr President should take a holistic view at the petrol price war unfolding before our eyes, Nigerians may be closer to Eldorado than most of us think as prophesied by our amiable First Lady, Yeye Asiwaju of Oodua Land, Chief (Mrs) Oluremi Tinubu.

We may be closer to comfort than we can really comprehend.*

©Barr Femi Oniyide, December 17, 2025.