The Dangote Refinery has responded to claims made by the Independent Petroleum Marketers’ Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) regarding the cost of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) from its refinery. IPMAN suggested that fuel from the refinery was more expensive than imported alternatives. Yakubu Suleiman, IPMAN’s national assistant secretary, noted that marketers would purchase fuel from wherever it was cheapest, implying that imported fuel was available at a lower price.In its rebuttal, the Dangote Refinery, through Anthony Chiejina, the Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer, dismissed these claims as “misinformation.” According to Dangote, PMS from its refinery is competitively priced, with sales commencing at N960 per liter for shipments into ships and N990 per liter for trucks. The refinery benchmarks its prices against international rates and suggests that claims of cheaper imported fuel are due to substandard products being brought into the country, compromising quality and safety.Dangote further highlighted that the Nigerian regulatory body, NMDPRA, lacks the laboratory capacity to detect low-quality fuel imports, which could damage vehicles and harm citizens’ health. They also emphasized the need to protect Nigeria’s domestic refining industry, warning against unfair competition from companies blending substandard products.This back-and-forth underscores the challenges in Nigeria’s deregulated fuel market and the strategic role the Dangote Refinery aims to play in improving the country’s energy security.
