“There are no desperate situations; only desperate men.”
— Josef Goebbels, 1897-1945, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, p 38.
Hitler’s Chief of propaganda uttered those words during the last days of the Nazi government; when all the falsehood concocted by several top officials was becoming unraveled.t’ passenger stole my car, made me unconscious – 43-yr-old man nxperience
Suddenly, it became a matter of every person fighting for his own survival. Esprit de corps was out. So many official secrets have been revealed in the last one month about the Dangote Refinery which have left the pro-Dangote segment of society gasping for breath. Now, the usual narrative of a patriotic, Nigerian investor, creating businesses in order to provide employment for Nigerians is being called to question on account of Dangote Refinery.
In more advanced countries, at least two or three books would have been started about the refinery – in order to unravel how Nigerians have once again messed up what in other countries would have been a God-given opportunity for a great leap forward in our quest for sustainable economic development. The Dangote Refinery was the sort of catalyst needed to speed up our low Gross Domestic Product, GDP, growth for years. Now, governments and other stakeholders – including Dangote himself – have almost thrown away the chance. Make no mistake about it; we have, individually and collectively, almost missed the boat. Only God can save us from our voluntary economic suicide arising from this one.
This article will only address one of the unwarranted controversies which have arisen on account of the Dangote Refinery – the quality of diesel available, or about to be made available, in Nigeria now. To be quite candid, Alhaji Dangote, inadvertently, started this controversy which ultimately will turn out not to be in his own interest. My over two decades in product marketing has taught me several lessons. One of the most important is that the marketer of a new brand, who enters the sector and immediately starts knocking the qualities of its predecessors, is akin to the man pointing accusing fingers at others. He will soon find four pointing back at him. And, the attack will be relentless.
Diesel had been imported into Nigeria long before Dangote went into business. Femi Otedola made his breakthrough from importing diesel produced by other refineries all over the world. Even Dangote’s factories, homes, offices etc have been running on imported diesel – without any complaint from him that he was receiving inferior products. Is it now that Dangote Refinery is producing a different kind of diesel that all the others have suddenly become inferior as he alleged? The position is illogical. What is logical is for Dangote to claim that his refinery will provide what he thinks is a NEW diesel for Nigerians. There is nothing wrong with that position; which is consistent with the age-long principle of change and progress. Nothing is permanent; not even the accepted composition of diesel. But, we can resolve this matter without deepening the animosity which has already developed between Dangote’s supporters on the one hand and the NNPCL, as well as others opposed to his ambitions on the other.
Elements of quality
“What is quality, Sir?” That was a question I was asked by a participant at our Marketing/Sales Management Course in September 1990. I was then a Senior Lecturer/Consultant at the Nigerian Institute of Management, NIM, Victoria Island. By that time I have worked for six multinational and three top Nigerian companies and sold over 500 brands from my first 237 in Boston, USA, starting 1968. Like all salesmen globally, the approach each time was to present our brand as superior in quality than competitors. Salesmen got away with the assertion because prospective buyers very seldom asked for proof of our quality claim. So, until 1990, 22 years after my selling career started, I had sailed through 34 countries – including the Caribbean Island nations without having to define product quality until a Sales Manager challenged me to define it in Lagos.
After admitting openly my ignorance about the concept, I promised to find out. Surprisingly, very little was available at NIM and the Centre for Management Development, CMD on the subject. I had to get in touch with a professor in Boston to help out. From the collection of articles, it became clearer to me that quality in a product or service group can be objectively determined without resorting to name calling or even annoying your competitors.
The first eight elements of quality discovered, before two more were added later, were the following: conformance, performance, features, purity of materials used, exactness of production standards, reliability, reparability and perceived quality. Not all the elements apply to all product groups, but a combination of them should generally help to sort out the quality issue. Space would not allow me to define each of those elements now. Perhaps, another opportunity will present itself. But, the current controversy regarding the quality of diesel now available in Nigeria can be examined objectively by addressing the elements of quality which apply to the product class.
What is diesel and is there a fixed quality?
According to Google, “The parameters to be tested for include specific gravity, fire point, flash point, viscosity, sulphur content, water content, octane index, etc. These factors play important roles in determining the quality of diesel.”
In a situation in which the quality of the product, like SAE40 engine oil, has been established in a country for a long time, any new producer deviating from the accepted standards has failed the conformance test.
He has the responsibility of convincing regulators and consumers that what is being offered is safe for consumption and will not also fail the test of performance.
With regard to performance, every new deviation from old standards must expect resistance at first – even when the new may eventually turn out to be better than the old. An example from another sector, brewery, will help to illustrate the point. STAR was the first lager beer produced in Nigeria; and for reasons best known to the owners, opted for a lager beer with 5.0 alcohol content by volume. Later, the same brewery launched GULDER with 5.2 alcohol content. It took years of protracted campaign before GULDER became well-accepted. Consumers who rejected GULDER at first were merely confirming the well-known facts that habits are stronger than reason. Dangote might indeed have a better diesel with lower sulphur content; but, there is no track record of how the new product performs when in use. Everybody, Dangote included, will just have to wait until a few mavericks risk their engines on the product.
The most important questions needing answers are these: is there a single parameter for diesel or can the product’s contents vary as in lager beer? If no single conformance set of parameters have been established, what are the limits, maximum and minimum, for each of the contents? And, have all the diesel brands now available in Nigeria met all the parameters? If the answer to the last question is yes, then the argument about inferiority is senseless. It makes as much sense as to dispute whether EVA bottled water is superior or inferior to NESTLE water.
It is commendable that the Federal Government has intervened in the conflict between the NNPCL and Dangote in a bid to avert a national disaster. Many issues still have to be resolved – including Dangote’s accusation about blending plants in Malta. The low hanging fruit is to reach agreement to stop the needless controversy about quality when, perhaps, all brands are broadly in conformity.
