Top three petroleum marketers in the country have explained that it would be wrong for the federal government to allow Dangote Refinery become a monopoly in the sector.
The marketers, AYM Shafa Limited, A. A. Rano Limited, and Matrix Petroleum Services Limited told a federal high court in Abuja, on Tuesday that it’s an anomaly for the government to allow Dangote Refinery become the sole distributor of petroleum products in the country.
According to the marketers, in a joint counter affidavit, they filed at the court, the development is a “recipe for disaster’ for the sector and the country at large.
Their response comes on the heels of a law suit filed by Dangote Refinery on September 6, 2024, against the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority and Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited, and the three marketers.
Dangote, in the suit had prayed the court to stop NNPLC and the NMDPRA from issuing import licence to the marketers to import petroleum products into the country, saying such action would negate the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA.
According to Dangote, what NMDPRA should be doing is encouraging local refineries to grow in line with its mandate.
Reacting, the marketers said there is no proof that Dangote could produce enough fuel for the country, stressing that there would always be a shortfall for the marketers to fill.
The marketers said they need to augment what Dangote produce locally with import, anything contrary, they said portends serious danger for the country in terms of availability of petroleum products.
They argued that nothing in their business violates Section 317(9) of the PIA, adding that they are entitled to be issued an import licence by NMDPR having met .all the legal requirements for the issuance of such import licences.
They also argued that the supply of petrol and determination of its price should not be solely determined by Dangote, noting that Nigerians and consumers will suffer if this is allowed to happen.
They insist that Dangote does not have enough products to last the country for 30 days contrary to its claim, stressing that the onus on the company is to show proof of this.
Part of what the marketers told the court: “The import licences lawfully and validly issued to the defendants did not in any way whatsoever, cripple the plaintiff’s business or its refinery.
“The import licenses issued to the defendants by the 1st defendant are in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, 2018, and other relevant laws,
“That in the event of any breakdown in or obstruction to the production chain of the plaintiff which stops it from producing Nigeria will be thrown into energy crises because it does not have the reserves that would last it for at least 30 days that it would need to order, pay for, freight and import refined products into tanks in Nigeria.
“That amidst the glaring absence of any credible and demonstrable proof that the plaintiff refines and supplies adequate petroleum products for the daily use/consumption of Nigerians, is a recipe for disaster in Nigeria’s energy sector.”
The magazine reported that the Chairman of Dangote refinery, and Africa’s Richest Man had during a meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu disclosed that the refinery had in its reserves over 500 million litres of petrol.
Dangote had earlier informed the president that the marketers had refused to purchase petrol from his company.
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