Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the Chairman of the Dangote Group, on Sunday accused the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed, of corruption, alleging that he spent $5 million on his children’s secondary school education in Switzerland.
Speaking during a press briefing at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Fertiliser Plant, Lekki, Lagos, Dangote described the alleged expenditure as inconsistent with a public servant’s income and a threat to public trust in regulatory institutions.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Refinery, the alleged payment covered six years of secondary education for four children, an amount he argued could not reasonably be explained by earnings from public service.
Dangote said taxpayers deserve accountability and questioned why a public official could afford to spend millions of dollars on his children’s foreign education if public funds were being properly used.
“I’ve had people actually complaining about a regulator who put his children in secondary school, and that secondary school education, which is six years, four of them cost Nigeria five million dollars.
“My children went to secondary school in Nigeria. They did not go outside Nigeria to attend secondary school.
“This is a system where some of us are taxpayers. When people are complaining, we also complain, because when I pay tax, I want to see my money put to use, not stolen.
“I don’t know why the authority chief executive, Mallam Farouk, has four children educated in Switzerland at the cost of five million dollars for their secondary school education alone, not university,” he alleged.
The billionaire said the alleged expenditure raised serious concerns about income declaration, conflicts of interest, and regulatory integrity in the downstream petroleum sector.
“The man must come and explain to Nigerians how he paid five million dollars for six years of his four children’s education.
“I don’t think any of you here has paid that kinds of fees for your own children. We cannot allow this to continue, because we must make sure people do not come and destroy a country just because they want to make a living that is not genuine or legal,” he said.
Dangote further referenced reports about overseas university education.
“I know that one of them just finished Harvard. I want to see what kind of system we are operating where people are busy destroying a country and taking money from government, because their income does not match this kind of spending,” he said.
“Even if it were me paying five million dollars for six years for four children, the taxman would have to look at my taxes and ask how much I paid.”
