REWIND: In 2023, IPMAN official asked FG to issue more import licences

In 2023, Chinedu Anyaso, an official of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), asked the federal government to issue licences to more importers, signalling its support for the importation of petroleum products by oil marketers.

The development preceded the commencement of petrol production at the Dangote refinery by over one year — even though the late President Muhammadu Buhari had inaugurated the plant a month earlier.

At the time, Nigeria’s oil industry had not been deregulated, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Development Company Limited (NNPCL) was the sole importer of petrol.

On June 3, 2023, Anyaso, chairman of IPMAN, Enugu community depot in charge of the south-east zone, made a case for importation, saying only competitive pricing “will address the current problem of PMS and other petroleum products”.

Anyaso also said only a ‘price war’, inspired by the participation of more importers alongside the NNPC, would make the price of products find its natural levels.

On May 3, 2024, the IPMAN also asked the federal government to speed up the processing of their licences to sustain access to petroleum products from NNPC — four months before the national oil company began lifting products from the Dangote plant.

“Marketers are fast-tracking the processing of their licenses to avoid the impending closure of their customer express portals for purchase of petroleum products from NNPC Retail Limited,” the association said.

While it was one executive who openly advocated for importation, there were no reports of the national body intervening, condemning his statement, taking a different stand — until now.

The association, on Thursday, denounced its support for petrol importation, endorsing local crude oil refining.

Abubakar Garima, IPMAN’s national president, said the continuous importation of petrol is not an acceptable parallel business model.

He said issuing import licences recklessly distorts market dynamics and drains foreign exchange (FX).

“Our position has always been to deepen domestic refining in order to eradicate imports of petroleum products,” Garima said.

“Continuous import is NOT an acceptable parallel business model, because issuing import licenses recklessly distorts market dynamics, drains foreign exchange, enthrones poverty, destroys jobs, and scares potential investors away.”

Although IPMAN did not disclose the reason for the shift, its position on importation comes after Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man and president of the Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), accused Farouk Ahmed, ex-CEO of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), of economic sabotage and corruption.

Dangote also invited IPMAN to participate as a distributor of its products.

Ahmed later resigned after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu, following a publication by Dangote, detailing the alleged financial misconduct of the former NMDPRA chief.