New revelations uncover that Sayyu Dantata, Dangote’s brother, is among the importers of petroleum products from Malta. Discover the details of this development.
New discoveries have illuminated the businesses and people implicated in bringing low-quality petroleum products from Malta to Nigeria.
One of the importers, through their company MRS Oil and Gas, has been identified as Sayyu Dantata. It is worth noting that he happens to be the half-brother of Aliko Dangote – President of the prominent business conglomerate known as Dangote Group.
Certain officials within the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and oil traders were accused by Aliko Dangote of operating blending plants in Malta. This accusation was made publicly in July, claiming that they produce off-spec petroleum products which are imported into Nigeria. Dangote also stated that these inferior quality products do not match those produced at the highly-capable 650,000 to 700,000 bpd production capacity Dangote Refinery.
Dangote stressed the inadequate standard of fuel imported into Nigeria, citing its harmful effects on vehicles nationwide. He accused certain individuals within the NNPC and unethical traders of facilitating these substandard products using falsified certificates as a cover-up.
The authenticity of documents obtained by DAILY NIGERIAN have affirmed that MRS Oil and Gas, established and headed by Sayyu Dantata as the founder/CEO, is among the firms bringing in fuel from Malta. Notable stakeholders with prominent positions at MRS Oil and Gas are Aisha Dantata, AbduDanta ta Patrice Alberti (GMD), Amina Maina (GCOO),and Mohammed Datosha.
Read Also: NNPC Explains Reduction of Stake in Dangote Refinery
Also worth reading is the issue surrounding Nigeria’s $2.25bn fuel import from Malta, which has sparked inquiries and concerns.
The documents indicate that MRS Oil and Gas brought a sizeable fuel shipment to Nigeria in February 2024 through the MT AETHER vessel. The company sent letters on March 4, 2024, addressed respectively to the CEO of Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the CEO of Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), verifying their acquisition from PETROCAM DMCC worth ninety-one thousand two hundred nineteen point two three two metric tons unleaded gasoline classified as “91 Ron.” This merchandise was loaded at OPL Malta port using MT AETHER.
Moyosola Kuku, the general manager of risk management at MRS Oil and Gas, signed letters that reiterated the complete sale of cargo to NNPC for offshore Lagos delivery.
Despite the disclosure, efforts to elicit a reply from MRS Oil and Gas have proven fruitless. Contacting phone numbers provided on their website proved futile as they did not connect; additionally, texts dispatched to them remained unanswered by the time of writing this report.
The emergence of these developments has brought to the fore serious apprehensions regarding the dependability of Nigeria’s fuel reserves and the probable participation of influential individuals and firms in bringing subpar petroleum products into circulation, which could lead to considerable destructions across various infrastructural domains within the nation.
The engagement of well-known personalities along with its repercussions is bound to elicit more investigations as well public scrutiny.
