Aliko Dangote has publicly questioned how Nigeria’s top oil regulator,Farouk Ahmed, funded $5 million in Swiss secondary school fees for his children, urging anti-graft agencies to launch an immediate investigation.
Insisting on a probe,Dangote demanded that Ahmed must appear before the Code of Conduct Tribunal to explain how he raised the $5m for his children’s school fees. He stressed that his own children did not attend secondary school outside Nigeria.
Dangote, who spoke at a press conference at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lekki, Lagos, said Ahmed’s high-profile lifestyle cannot be reconciled with his public service income and therefore linked it to alleged corruption in the downstream petroleum sector.
He contended that if left unanswered, the allegation would continue to undermine public trust and investor confidence.
“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”, he stated
Dangote contended that Ahmed’s income could not support the fee,noting that such a payment would trigger a tax inquiry for anyone. “Even if I paid $5m for my children’s schooling,” he said, “the tax authorities would need to scrutinize my finances.”
He said he was particularly troubled by the contrast between the alleged expenditure and the hardship faced by ordinary Nigerians.
He contrasted the staggering$5 million fees with the harsh reality in Ahmed’s home state of Sokoto, where families struggle to afford N100,000. “Many children are at home, not going to school, because of that,” Dangote stated, questioning how a lifelong public servant could afford such a sum. Reiterating that his own children attended Nigerian schools, he clarified, “I am not calling for his removal, but for a proper investigation… to demonstrate he has not compromised his position. 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.”
Describing the downstream petroleum sector as being under severe strain, the billionaire business mogul alleged the presence of entrenched interests that profit from fuel imports at the expense of national development.
Dangote declared that “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”.
