The President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, on Sunday 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, calling for a full investigation and public explanation.
Dangote said Ahmed must appear before the Code of Conduct Tribunal to explain to Nigerians how he was allegedly able to raise $5m for his children’s school fees, accusing him of economic sabotage.
Our correspondent reports that the NMDPRA dismissed a similar allegation when a group protested and alleged in July that Ahmed spent over $5.5m on the foreign education of his four children, insisting that the amount was grossly inconsistent with the earnings of a public official.
Reacting in July, the NMDPRA debunked all the allegations, describing them as an orchestrated smear campaign based on false allegations against Ahmed and its leadership.
Revisiting the allegation during a press briefing at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lekki, Lagos, Dangote spoke extensively on what he described as regulatory failures and alleged corruption in the downstream petroleum sector.
While stressing that he was conveying issues brought to his attention, Dangote insisted that the allegation, if left unanswered, would continue to undermine public trust and investor confidence.
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.”
Dangote said the alleged spending was difficult to reconcile with earnings from public service, adding that such a situation would ordinarily attract scrutiny from tax authorities.
“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 contrast between the alleged expenditure and the hardship faced by ordinary Nigerians.
