When Titans Collide: Dangote, Farouk, and Nigeria’s Energy Nerves

There’s a way power struggles in Nigeria begin. This one opened on live television, with a billionaire asking how a civil servant pays Swiss school fees.

On December 15, 2025, Aliko Dangote went on ARISE NEWS Channel and accused Farouk Ahmed, head of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), of corruption. The claim was blunt: over $5 million spent on schooling four children in Switzerland.

Dangote argued that a government salary cannot reasonably stretch to elite European boarding schools. He contrasted it with families in Ahmed’s home state struggling to raise N100,000 for school fees.

The allegation landed inside a wider regulatory quarrel. Dangote has long accused the authority Ahmed leads of frustrating local refining. His refinery can meet domestic petrol demand. Yet import licenses for billions of litres were approved for early 2026.

To the informed, the fight has history. In 2024, Ahmed questioned the quality of diesel from the Dangote Refinery, citing sulfur content. Independent tests later cleared the product. The episode lingered, feeding mutual suspicion and public theatrics.

This time, the stage widened with Dangote petitioning the ICPC, asking for a formal probe into Ahmed’s assets. The commission confirmed receipt, and the House of Representatives voiced support, echoing earlier concerns about regulatory conduct.

Ahmed responded with restraint. Reportedly, he dismissed the accusations as spurious and declined public exchanges. His defence rests on due process, investigations, and institutional calm rather than televised rebuttals.

Meanwhile, pump prices have started to ease, helped by refinery price cuts. That irony makes the moment sharper: as Nigerians pay slightly less for fuel, two powerful men argue over who truly serves the public interest.

The drama may end in reports and resolutions. Its real legacy lies elsewhere: a reminder that Nigeria’s hardest energy problem is neither crude nor capacity. Rather, it is trust, scarce and expensive, like Swiss school fees.