President and Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, has expanded his allegations against the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed, accusing him of spending several millions of dollars on his children’s education abroad.
Dangote made the allegations on Sunday while addressing journalists at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, where he accused the NMDPRA leadership of economic sabotage, claiming their actions were undermining domestic refining in Nigeria.
According to him, the regulatory authority has continued to issue import licences for petroleum products, allegedly in collusion with international traders and oil importers, a move he said frustrates local refiners.
In a statement signed on Monday, Dangote further alleged that Ahmed was living far beyond his legitimate earnings as a public officer, citing the cost of educating his children in Switzerland and the United States.
He claimed that four of Ahmed’s children attended secondary schools in Switzerland for six years each, with combined tuition, upkeep, travel and related expenses estimated at about $5 million.
Dangote listed the schools attended by the children as Montreux School, Aiglon College, Institut Le Rosey and La Garenne International School. He estimated the annual cost per child at about $200,000, amounting to $800,000 annually for the four children, with total living expenses over six years put at $4.8 million.
“The approximate total fees for tuition and upkeep is $5,000,000,” Dangote alleged.
He further claimed that an additional $2 million was spent on tertiary education for the four children over a four-year period. According to him, Faisal Farouk, one of Ahmed’s children, completed a Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme at Harvard University in 2025, at an estimated cost of $210,000.
“Tuition, upkeep, air tickets and other expenses for tertiary education is approximately $125,000 per annum. Over four years, that amounts to $500,000 per child, multiplied by four children, totalling $2,000,000,” Dangote stated.
He questioned the source of the funds used to finance the education, especially in the face of widespread economic hardship.
“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 N10,000 school fees for their children,” he said.
Efforts to reach Ahmed for comments as of Monday night were unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives’ Joint Committees on Petroleum Resources (Midstream and Downstream) have summoned both parties and directed them to halt further public exchanges.
The lawmakers said the intervention was necessary to prevent an escalation capable of destabilising the downstream petroleum sector, which they noted had only recently begun to experience relative stability.