Dangote Expands Allegations Against NMDPRA Chief, Releases Fresh Claims on Children’s Foreign Education

President and Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, has escalated his allegations against the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed, accusing him of spending millions of dollars on his children’s foreign education.

Mr Dangote made the fresh allegations on Sunday during a press conference at the Dangote Petroleum Refiner, where he accused the leadership of the NMDPRA of actions he described as economic sabotage, allegedly undermining domestic refining operations in Nigeria.

According to him, the regulatory authority has continued to issue petroleum import licences in a manner that favours international traders and oil importers, thereby frustrating local refining initiatives.

Mr Dangote further alleged that Mr Ahmed was living beyond his legitimate means, claiming that four of his children attended secondary schools in Switzerland at costs running into several millions of dollars. He said the scale of the expenditure raised serious concerns about conflict of interest and the integrity of regulatory oversight in Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector.

In a statement signed on Monday, Mr Dangote alleged that Mr Ahmed spent over $5 million on tuition, upkeep and associated expenses for his children’s secondary education abroad.

He listed the children and their schools as Faisal Farouk (Montreux School), Farouk Jr. (Aiglon College), Ashraf Farouk (Institute Le Rosey), and Farhana Farouk (La Garenne International School), noting that each of them reportedly spent six years in the schools.

According to the statement, the estimated annual cost of tuition, air tickets and upkeep per child stood at $200,000, amounting to $800,000 for four children. Mr Dangote added that the estimated living expenses and travel costs per child over six years totalled $1.2 million, bringing the combined cost for the four children to $4.8 million.

“The approximate total fees for tuition and upkeep is $5,000,000,” the statement said.

Mr Dangote also alleged that Mr Ahmed spent an additional $2 million on tertiary education for his four children over a four-year period.

He further claimed that $210,000 was spent in 2025 on Faisal Farouk’s Harvard MBA, broken down into $150,000 for tuition and $60,000 for upkeep, travel and other incidentals.

“Tuition, upkeep, air tickets and other expenses for tertiary education is approximately $125,000 per annum. By four years, that amounts to $500,000 per child, and $2,000,000 for four children,” Mr Dangote alleged.

Questioning the source of the funds, Mr Dangote contrasted the alleged expenditure with prevailing economic hardship, particularly in Mr Ahmed’s home state of Sokoto.

“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.

Efforts to reach Mr Ahmed for comments were unsuccessful as of Monday night.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives Joint Committees on Petroleum Resources (Downstream and Midstream) have summoned both parties and ordered an immediate halt to public exchanges over the dispute.

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