KEY POINTS
- Otedola says Obasanjo yelled at him over diesel shortage.
- Zenon Petroleum dominated diesel market after deregulation.
- Diesel deregulation faced internal sabotage, Otedola claims
Femi Otedola, a billionaire from Nigeria, has talked about a tense fight he had with former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2004 over the deregulation of diesel imports. He says this led to a strong backlash from powerful people in the state oil sector.
Otedola writes in his upcoming book, Making It Big: Lessons from a Life in Business, that Obasanjo once called him at 2 a.m. and angrily accused him of tricking the government into eliminating NNPC from fuel imports. The book, published by FO Books, is slated for release on August 18.
“God will punish you! You persuaded me to deregulate diesel, and now there’s no diesel in the country,” Obasanjo allegedly shouted over the phone, furious over reports of a nationwide shortage.
Diesel deregulation faced powerful resistance
According to Otedola, those claims of scarcity were orchestrated by rivals and NNPC insiders who were resistant to change and eager to keep benefitting from the subsidy regime. He said he flew to Abuja the next day to explain the real situation to the president.
“I had six ships waiting to discharge big supplies of diesel. I was even paying demurrage,” he wrote, alleging that his competitors had spread falsehoods to sabotage Zenon Petroleum’s market dominance.
To counter the panic, Otedola suggested running newspaper adverts to show diesel was available and affordable.
Zenon gained market lead after diesel liberalisation
The Nigerian government fully deregulated the diesel market in 2004, making it the first petroleum product to be entirely subsidy-free. Zenon Petroleum, Otedola’s company, quickly rose to dominate the space, disrupting the old supply model and upsetting competitors.
“The economy was about to be brought down, they claimed,” Otedola wrote. “But it was all lies. They just didn’t want to lose the subsidy money.”
Despite the friction, Obasanjo ultimately trusted Otedola’s account and chose to ignore what the businessman called “jealous people” within the system who opposed deregulation for their own gain.
