Why President Tinubu must kill NNPCL, NMDPRA’s addiction to fuel

MORE than a week ago, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) dropped something on our laps. Somehow the information escaped the required scrutiny of a majority of Nigerians, who were apparently overtaken by the political drama in Lagos and Osun States, amidst their daily challenges.

Apparently attempting to justify the push for continued importation of petrol, commonly called Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in Nigeria, the agency, one of the younger brothers of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), in line with the dictates of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), announced that the 650,000 barrels per day capacity Dangote Refinery and other local refiners were only able to meet 50 percent of the nation’s consumption requirements in February 2025, adding that the balance was imported by the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).

Executive Director, Distribution System, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure, of the agency, Ogbugo Ukoha, who disclosed the data at a press conference in Abuja, added that the contribution of local refineries has been less than a 60 percent shortfall in January and February 2025. He, however, added that the petrol imported to the country were of standard quality.

He said:  “So, just for clarity, what I am saying is that the contribution of local refining towards the sufficiency was less than 60 percent in January and less than 50 percent in February 2025.”

He added: “The shortfall is sourced by way of importation. Even though none of the OMCs that owned refineries have imported this year. You must meet those specifications; otherwise, we will not let those products be distributed.”

He did not provide a detailed report about the consumption rates of Nigerians to give us insights into the configuration of his 50 and 60 percent data, though. His statement also came on the heels of a similar defence offered by the spokesman of the NNPCL, Femi Soneye, who stated earlier that the NNPCL was not prohibited by law from importing fuel to meet shortfall. “It is important to clarify that there is no law prohibiting NNPC Limited from importing when necessary,” he had said.

Soneye had added: “As a company primarily responsible for ensuring energy security in Nigeria, if there were any PMS supply insufficiency in the future, NNPC Limited has the right and responsibility to intervene by importing to bridge the gap.”

Even if that logic is sound, his submission has lost sight of the fact that the NNPC was established to guarantee Nigeria’s energy sufficiency. He has forgotten that rather than relying on fuel importation, the corporation or company as they would call it now, was established to ensure Nigeria derived the best financial gain from the crude oil value chain and that the resort to fuel importation was an aberration that recently took shape.

One will then discover that as extensive and legalistic the submissions of the NNPCL and its brother, the NMDPRA would look, they have failed to capture the whole story around the issue of energy security and fuel supply in the country.  Do we have a shortfall as we speak? How much shortfall? The elders would say you don’t have a hoe at home and use your hands to pack feaces. In that light, the NNPCL and its brother corporations have hardly taken into consideration the national historical antecedents of Nigeria as a nation and the need to move away from the crude oil curse. For many years, Nigeria was the only major crude oil producer that cannot boast of a refinery locally. It had four refineries that went moribund decades ago and the country had to rely on crude swap programmes and other condescending measures. Rather than refine the products and earn the benefits, the country was exporting its wealth and earning pittance. We know that crude oil is blessed with so many components but when our officials sign those swap deals with refineries outside our shores, their concern was petrol and probably diesel.

Now in 2024, Dangote Refineries came on board in Lagos and it was like the Messiah everyone had waited for. It also looked like one factory that would wipe away the tears of Nigerians in the petroleum sector away. Nigerians had suffered deprivation and death as a result of unending fuel scarcities and bad fuel imports for more than two decades. So the people were hopeful and waited anxiously for it to debut.

While not claiming to be providing direct altercation to the claims of the regulatory agencies, the Dangote refineries in two separate events in the last one week has replied the regulators quite succinctly. The statements coming out of Dangote have also confirmed to us all that there is much more to penchant for fuel importation than patriotism and accountability.  There is certainly nothing about national energy sufficiency concern in the desire and claims by the regulatory agencies.

 First, the Dangote Refineries and Petrochemical Company put a lie to the postulations by the NNPCL and the NMDPRA that local refiners only met 50 per cent of the nation’s energy requirement, it then reaffirmed its readiness to take the front row in the fuel supply chain.

Last Monday, while playing host to a Zambian delegation at the refinery, the President of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Aliko Dangote said that his refinery has more than enough PMS to meet the needs of Nigerians. He said that the oil refinery has “more than half a billion litres of petroleum and over N600 billion worth of products in its tanks.”

Dangote had said: “As we speak right now, we have more than half a billion litres. The refinery is producing enough refined products, like gasoline, diesel and kerosene, to meet 100 per cent of Nigeria’s requirements.

“This refinery is not only for Nigeria; it is for Africa. We must sustain the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) deal. We are trying to see how we trade with other African countries.”

Again on Wednesday last week, the refinery announced a further slash in the prices of petrol to N825 at the gantry. A statement by the refinery read:  “Dangote Petroleum Refinery has announced a reduction in the ex-depot (gantry) price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly referred to as petrol, by N65.00, from N890 to N825 per litre, effective from 27th February 2025.

“This strategic price adjustment is designed to provide essential relief to Nigerians in anticipation of the upcoming Ramadan season, while also supporting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic recovery policy by alleviating the financial burden on the Nigerian populace.”

Though the regulatory agencies and Dangote Refineries are in court on the issue of continuous issuance of import licenses to fuel importers, this is certainly not one issue Nigerians would regard as sub judice.  This one affects the life of the man on the streets on a daily basis as well as his financial wherewithal at the end of the month.

But the conduct and outlook of the Nigerian regulatory agencies leave much to be desired in this instance. As much as they have not left Nigerians in doubt as to the suspicious quality of patriotism ingrained in their system, one would think they should not go further by counting the lots of the nine-fingered man right in his presence. Its like rubbing salt on injury. We earlier saw the hostile welcome they extended to Dangote refinery on its arrival in the sector industry and we already knew something was fishy. One of agencies even told us that refining locally would not amount to cheaper products and another came up with fabrications that portrayed insinuations about the quality of Dangote fuel.

The current posture, however, raises enough questions, especially as the regulators are trying to turn data to an ass. They said that local refiners are only meeting 50 percent of the energy needs, so they had to import. Yet Dangote refineries has more than 600 million litres waiting to be offloaded from the tanks in Lagos. So, who is telling us the truth and who is to be believed? Nigerians believe Dangote because his words have alleviated a bit of their struggles in recent months. The submissions by NMDPRA and NNPCL raise the all important question-how many litres do Nigerians consume on a daily basis? What really is our petroleum supply need? If Dangote’s 600 million litres are yet to be offloaded, and we still have to import fuel to augment our needs, what volume are we really consuming? This is coming on the heels of the report by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) which stated that Nigeria’s import levels surged by as much as 80.65 percent between 2017 and 2023 with the oil sector accounting for 38.3 percent of the total imports. The figures grew from $31 billion to $56 billion within that period. There are also reports that claim that Nigeria spent N5.5 trillion importing fuel between October 2024 and January 2025.

Though the NNPCL claimed it has revived the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, figures out there do not support a break from import addiction despite the launch of the $20 billion Dangote refinery in Lagos. For instance, reports indicate that Nigeria imported 3.2 million metric tons of petrol (4.9 billion litres)  and one million metric tons (1.15 billion litres)  of diesel between October 2024 and January 2025. That’s a staggering drain on the economy, especially going by the fact that a local refiner is capable of making those supplies.

This is where President Bola Tinubu should wield the big stick. We do know that there is politics in government. There is also mischief embedded in policies  and government’s actions, but the mischief being exhibited here is already transporting the sacrifice beyond the designated location. The Yoruba would say O ti ngbe saraa koja mosalasi. The era of setting up corporations with the nation’s resources, who turn around to lord over us all should be over. Each budget passing session in the National Assembly is replete with reports of agencies making billions and remitting less than a fraction of their earnings to the government. The NNPCL is more than guilty of such an allegation. It was impressive seeing the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) sharing an unprecedented N1.7 trillion to the Federal, States and Local governments in January, but perhaps the offerings could be higher if the NNPCL and NMRPRA had not been dancing palongo with fuel importation. Nations do everything possible to reduce their dependency on imports where they can, Nigeria can stop the importation of fuel and the President has to kill that addiction being exhibited by NNPCL and NMDPRA.

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