NMDPRA Denies Approving Import Licence For Dangote

Says 6 coys to import fuel for July

Written by Jonathan Nda-Isaiah 9 hours ago

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has firmly refuted circulating allegations suggesting that the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) lacks the authority to issue oil import licenses.

The NMDPRA also clarified that it had not granted any permit to the Dangote Group for oil importation in July.

Speaking with State House Correspondents at the Presidential Villa, the Chief Executive Officer, NMDPRA, Engr. Farouk Ahmed, explained that the authority issued fuel importation permit to six companies to bring in the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in July of which Dangote Group isn’t part of it.

Ahmed further explained that contrary to reports in some quarters that Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) issued the fuel importation permits to only three companies, he said that NNPC has no mandate to issue such permit.

He said that the notion that NNPC issued a fuel importation permit to anyone is not true.

The NMDPRA boss further clarified that although six companies have been approved for July, more 23 applications have been received and are currently being processed for subsequent approvals.

“As of this morning, for the month of July, we at least received and cleared six companies that have expressed interest and have vessels offshore that they needed to fix for delivery in July.

“We also have about 23 other companies that have expressed interest to import, and these applications are coming. As we speak now, they keep coming and we keep evaluating all of that.

“So the good thing is that we actually have a lot of interest in companies wanting to import Premium Motor Spirit, which means that NNPC burden will be reduced because as we get more and more companies coming in NNPC might decide to also slow down in line with the provision of the law which FCCPC states that in order to avoid any monopoly no company should go more than 40%.

“So in line with that, however, prior before that happens, NNPC of course being the sort of last resort, has over 30 days sufficiency of premium motor spirt currently, as of today.

“Almost 14 days of the 30 is on now, which means we have about 14 to 15 days sufficiency across the country.

“There are several companies that applied for fuel importation permit. So you can apply for importation to get access to the port. And by the way, we are open to all those who are interested in importing.

“We have guidelines which are not very stringent because we’re trying to encourage importation. There are six companies who said they want to import fuel in July. Of course, all the others may import in December in November, or anytime but those who expressed interest to bring in fuel in July there were six of them as of this morning.

“The beauty of it is that there are interests which means that they have been able to have access to foreign exchange in order to import.

“Now, as we go along, of course, we’ll be briefing you on the progress or the achievements so far, but the important thing is that NNPC has 30 days fuel sufficiency, so we do not anticipate any gap in supply or in distribution.”

naptu2:
Teething.

The National Assembly Service Commission usually organises orientation programmes for new legislators, but there are still some teething problems like this. This new legislator did not know how to move a motion.

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More importantly, this is why I often argue on Nairaland (or why I used to argue often on Nairaland) and why I sometimes criticise our media.

A rumour circulated that the NNPC had granted the Dangote Group a license to import petroleum products. I immediately knew that the rumour (as it was framed) was a lie. As I have often posted here, the NNPC is just like any other oil company. It stopped being a regulator in the early 2000s. It does not issue licenses to importers. The NNPC released a statement to deny issuing any such license.

The sector is regulated by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).

I expect that journalists would simply contact the NMDPRA and Dangote Group to find out whether any such license was granted and then they would inform the public, but what is actually happening? You see journalists discussing this issue as if their job is to spread gossip rather than facts. It's one of the problems that we have in Nigeria. When a rumour appears people just go ahead and pass judgement, rather than trying to confirm whether it is true.

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This episode also reminds me of Bakin Zuwo in 1979. He got up on the floor of the Senate and complained that ₦2.8 billion was missing from the NNPC. The senate president asked him where he got the information from and he said that he read it in the newspaper.

This man is a member of the House of Representatives and he has tax-payer funded staff. One of the purposes of these legislative aides is to help them research motions and bills. Couldn't he have gotten one of his aides to contact the NNPC or the NMDPRA to confirm whether they gave the Dangote Group any such license?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzEmqsaHA1g

naptu2:
The stupid rumour went viral, but the truth has not gone viral. The stupid rumour was that the NNPC had given a license to Dangote to be the sole importer of petrol. Engineer Farouk Ahmed is the CEO of NMDPRA. He addressed this stupid rumour when he visited the president. He is speaking in the press briefing room of the Aso Rock Villa.


Summary is that the NNPC cannot and did not issue licenses because it has no legal right to issue licenses. NMDPRA has not issued any license to Dangote to import petrol in July. They have issued licenses to 6 companies to import in July. He can only speak for July because that's what they've issued license for. Others may apply for licenses for other months, and applications are coming in every day, but at the moment he can only speak for July.

Click watch on YouTube.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qamMSahR2ZQ

naptu2:


https://leadership.ng/nmdpra-denies-approving-import-licence-for-dangote/

naptu2:


https://leadership.ng/nmdpra-denies-approving-import-licence-for-dangote/

gloryman91:
PBAT please relief all these guys immediately and get capable hands who can work with you to move the country forward for the betterment of the citizens.

jmoore:
Denial after how many weeks.

If you buy a liter of petrol for 530 naira when 1 dollar was 465 naira, how much will you buy 1 liter of petrol when 1 dollar is 680-750 naira?