Oil marketers, AYM Shafa Limited, A. A. Rano Limited, and Matrix Petroleum Services Limited, have approached a Federal High Court in Abuja, praying it to dismiss a suit filed by Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals, seeking to stop the issuance of petrol import licenses.
The marketers, in a joint counter affidavit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1324/2024, and dated November 5, 2024, in response to an originating summon filed by Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals, argued that granting Dangote Refinery’s application would spell doom for the country’s oil sector.
The trio, in their response, argued that Dangote Refinery does not produce adequate petroleum products for the daily consumption of Nigerians and that the plaintiff had not placed anything before the court to prove the contrary.
They further stated that they are well qualified and entitled to be issued an import licence by the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to import petroleum products in Nigeria within the meaning of Section 317(9) of the PIA.
They also noted that they are fully qualified for the issuance of the import licences issued to them by the 1st defendant, as they duly met all the legal requirements for the issuance of such import licences, before the same were issued to them.
They emphasised that the plan to monopolise the oil sector is a recipe for disaster in the country.
“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,” they contended.
They insisted that giving Dangote Refinery the power of monopoly in Nigeria’s petroleum industry as it sought in the instant suit, would kill competitive pricing of petroleum products in the country and further deteriorate the country’s critically ailing economy.
The marketers also added that it would “unleash untold hardship on Nigerians, all of which constitute a recipe for disaster in the polity”.
The marketers explained that if Nigeria puts all her energy eggs in one basket by stopping the importation of petroleum products and allowing the plaintiff to be the sole producer and supplier of petroleum products in Nigeria, with liberty to determine the prices at which it supplies the products, the prices of petroleum products will continue to rise and energy security will elude Nigeria.
They also noted that should the refinery break down being a monopolised sector, the country will be plunged into a hot mess of energy crisis.
“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 marketers further told the court that granting the reliefs sought by the plaintiff was a design to leave Nigeria and Nigerians at the mercy of the plaintiff with respect to the availability and cost of purchasing petroleum products in the country.
The presiding judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo fixed January 20, 2025, for a report of settlement or service.
