The President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has alleged that the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed, paid about $5m for the secondary school education of his four children in Switzerland, urging the Nigerian authorities to launch a full investigation into the allegations.
Dangote, while addressing journalists on Sunday, stated that the alleged spending doesn’t match earnings from public service, adding that such a situation would ordinarily attract scrutiny from tax authorities.
He said, “I’ve actually had people making complaints about a regulator who has actually put his children in secondary school.
“And that secondary school education, which is six years, four of them cost Nigeria $5m. I mean, you cannot imagine somebody paying $5m for educating four children.”
“When you look at his income, his income does not match paying this kind of fee. And even if it’s me paying $5m for six years for my four children, the taxman has to look at my taxes and how much I pay,” he stated.
The billionaire businessman said he was particularly troubled by the stark contrast between the alleged expenditure and the hardship faced by ordinary Nigerians, especially families in the Northern region where Farouk hails from, who struggle to pay school fees.
“From Sokoto, where he comes from, people are struggling to pay N100,000 for school fees. A lot of children are at home, not going to school, because of N100,000. I cannot understand why somebody who has worked all his life in government, and he has four children whose school fees he has paid $5m for,” he added.
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Dangote emphasised that his own children did not attend secondary schools abroad, saying, “Even my own children, they didn’t go to those schools. My children went to a Nigerian secondary school. They didn’t go outside Nigeria to attend secondary school.
“I am not calling for his removal, but for a proper investigation. He should be required to account for his actions and demonstrate that he has not compromised his position to the detriment of Nigerians. What is happening amounts to economic sabotage.
“The Code of Conduct Bureau, or any other body deemed appropriate by the government, can investigate the matter. If he denies it, I will not only publish what he paid as tuition in those secondary schools, but I will also take legal steps to compel the schools to disclose the payments made by Farouk.”
He described the downstream petroleum sector as being under severe strain, alleging the presence of entrenched interests that profit from fuel imports at the expense of national development.
“There are powerful interests in the oil sector. It is troubling that African countries continue to import refined products despite long-standing calls for value addition and domestic refining. The volume of imports being allowed into the country is unethical and does a disservice to Nigeria,” he added.
Dangote urged the need for a clear separation between regulatory oversight and commercial interests, stressing that the freedom traders enjoy to influence regulation would undermine the integrity of the sector.
“The downstream sector must not be destroyed by personal interests. A trader should never be a regulator. 47 licences have been issued, yet no new refineries are being built because the environment is not conducive,” he said.
