House Summons Dangote, NMDPRA Boss As $5m Swiss Education Allegations Rock Oil Industry

Africa’s richest man and President of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, has levelled serious allegations against Farouk Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), accusing him of economic sabotage, conflict of interest, and spending millions of dollars on his children’s education abroad.

Dangote made the allegations on Sunday during a press conference at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, where he accused the leadership of the NMDPRA of colluding with international oil traders and fuel importers to undermine domestic refining through the continued issuance of petroleum product import licences.

According to Dangote, such actions have deliberately frustrated Nigeria’s efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in refined petroleum products, despite massive investments in local refining capacity.

In a statement signed on Monday, Dangote alleged that Ahmed spent over $5 million on the secondary education of his four children in elite Swiss schools, raising questions about the source of the funds and the integrity of regulatory oversight in the downstream petroleum sector.

He listed the children and the schools they reportedly attended as Faisal Farouk (Montreux School), Farouk Jr. (Aiglon College), Ashraf Farouk (Institut Le Rosey) and Farhana Farouk (La Garenne International School), noting that each child spent six years at the institutions.

Dangote estimated the annual cost of tuition, air travel and upkeep at about $200,000 per child, amounting to $800,000 annually for the four children. Over six years, he said, the combined cost totalled $4.8 million, which he rounded up to $5 million.

He further alleged that an additional $2 million was spent on tertiary education for the four children over four years, including $210,000 for a 2025 Harvard MBA reportedly completed by Faisal Farouk.

“The approximate total fees for tuition and upkeep is $5,000,000,” Dangote stated, adding that such expenditure by a public officer raised serious concerns about possible conflict of interest and abuse of office.

Dangote also drew attention to the economic realities faced by ordinary Nigerians, questioning how a public official could afford such sums while many families struggle to meet basic educational costs.

“Nigerians deserve to know the source(s) of these sums of money paid by a public officer while many parents in his home state of Sokoto cannot afford to pay ?10,000 school fees for their children and wards,” he said.

As of Monday night, Farouk Ahmed could not be reached for comments on the allegations.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives’ Joint Committees on Petroleum Resources (Downstream and Midstream) have summoned both Dangote and Ahmed and directed an immediate halt to public exchanges between the parties.

The lawmakers said the intervention was aimed at preventing an escalation of tensions capable of destabilising Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector, which they noted has only recently begun to experience relative stability.