What I Told President Jonathan About Multi Billon Dollar Oil Subsidy Scam In His Government—Femi Otedola

<h4>What I Told President Jonathan About Multi Billon Dollar Oil Subsidy Scam<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<h4><&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that Femi Otedola&comma; the billionaire businessman&comma; has disclosed that he warned President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan about the multi billion dollar subsidy scam during his administration&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Making this disclosure in a statement on Monday&comma; Otedola said <em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;On subsidy&comma; I personally warned President Goodluck Jonathan that he was being misled&period; The system was built to benefit depot owners&comma; and DAPPMAN members became the primary beneficiaries&comma;”<&sol;strong><&sol;em> he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Over N2 trillion was siphoned through questionable claims&comma; all tied to depot licenses&period; The policy rewarded neither transparency nor innovation&comma; it encouraged rent-seeking and corruption&comma; ”<&sol;strong><&sol;em> Otedola discloses&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Further&comma; the billionaire businessman said that during the administration of Jonathan&comma; over N2 trillion was siphoned through questionable petrol subsidy claims linked to depot licences&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He stressed that the petrol subsidy system was structured to favor depot owners&comma; with DAPPMAN members emerging as the main beneficiaries&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On the raging issue between the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">Dangote Petroleum Refinery &lpar;DPR&rpar;<&sol;a> and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria &lpar;DAPPMAN&rpar;&comma; Otedola explained that <em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;If anything&comma; DAPPMAN members should be focusing on owning and scaling last-mile retail outlets&comma; not holding on to tanks built for a fuel import economy that no longer serves us&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It would be recalled that on September 16&comma; DAPPMAN accused Dangote refinery of engaging in market-disruptive practices&comma; claiming that the company’s fuel price cuts were strategically timed to weaken competition rather than to serve patriotic interests&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Countering the group&comma; the Dangote refinery said DAPPMAN allegedly demanded an annual subsidy of N1&period;5 trillion to enable members match the refinery’s gantry prices at their own depots&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Addressing what he described as a <strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;a myth that continues to be repeated”&comma;<&sol;strong> Otedola said depots do not drive employment as some people claim&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;A typical depot employs perhaps five people&comma; gatekeeper included&period; In contrast&comma; a single filling station can provide jobs to dozens of Nigerians—from pump attendants to cashiers&comma; security personnel&comma; and cleaners&comma;”<&sol;strong><&sol;em> Otedola said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The global picture is instructive&period; Depots in Amsterdam or Houston were designed to serve export markets&comma; especially Africa&period; With Nigeria now refining locally&comma; such infrastructure is increasingly unnecessary&period;The same thing happened in the cement industry&period;”<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He said immediately Nigeria started producing cement locally&comma; <strong><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;the bulk carriers that used to dock at our ports were retired&comma; many sold as scrap&period; <&sol;em><&sol;strong><em><strong>The same outcome awaits fuel depots&comma;”<&sol;strong><&sol;em> Otedola said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The billionaire warned that if <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">DAPPMAN<&sol;a> members do not adapt&comma; they will become irrelevant&comma; and possibly go bankrupt&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;<em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Instead of resisting progress&comma; they should consider selling&comma; restructuring&comma; or investing in new value chains&comma;”<&sol;strong><&sol;em> he added&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He said if they genuinely believed in competition&comma; they could pool resources to acquire the Port Harcourt refinery and attempt to succeed where the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">Nigerian National Petroleum Company &lpar;NNPC&rpar; Limited<&sol;a> had failed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;