The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has voiced frustrations over its inability to load petrol from the Dangote Refinery, despite paying ₦40 billion upfront to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL). Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, IPMAN President Abubakar Garima expressed surprise at statements made by Aliko Dangote, the owner of the $20 billion refinery, claiming that independent marketers were boycotting his facility to purchase imported petrol.
Garima countered Dangote’s claim, clarifying that IPMAN members have not been importing petrol. Instead, they are eager to source Dangote’s locally refined product but have faced substantial obstacles, allegedly due to NNPCL’s handling of the distribution. He urged Dangote to consider registering independent marketers directly to ensure smoother loading procedures, saying, “If he (Dangote) can sell the product to us directly, we can buy the product because we have to pay before we pick.”
The IPMAN President recounted instances where marketers were sent to load petrol at the Dangote Refinery by NNPCL, only to be left stranded for days with empty trucks. Despite this logistical bottleneck, he emphasized that IPMAN has already paid ₦40 billion to the NNPCL in anticipation of accessing Dangote’s refined fuel, yet no petrol has been forthcoming.
This situation contrasts sharply with Dangote’s recent statement after meeting President Bola Tinubu in Abuja, where he indicated that the refinery had over 500 million liters of petrol in storage, awaiting buyers. Dangote urged marketers to patronize the refinery to reduce dependency on imports, but Garima suggested that the issue may lie in the pricing and accessibility of the refinery’s output.
Garima questioned whether Dangote’s pricing might be deterring marketers, suggesting a reassessment of costs relative to imported products. He also raised concerns about how long it takes for petrol sourced from the Dangote Refinery to reach marketers’ depots, an issue he believes could affect logistics and costs.
As Nigeria grapples with surging energy costs and inflation, Garima believes that direct access to the Dangote Refinery’s petrol could alleviate some pressure by lowering pump prices for consumers. The cost of petrol in Nigeria has surged dramatically over the past year, rising from under ₦200 per liter to over ₦1,000, with many Nigerians blaming the combined effects of subsidy removal and forex unification policies under President Tinubu’s administration.
In response to the steep living costs, many middle-class Nigerians have abandoned personal vehicles for public transportation to cut expenses. Garima insists that allowing independent marketers to lift petrol directly from Dangote could potentially ease this burden and stabilize fuel prices.
