Dangote Petroleum Refinery has taken the Federal Government to court over fresh petrol import licences given to marketers, saying the approvals go against the law and hurt local refining.
The case was filed at the Federal High Court in Lagos, with the Attorney General and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, named as defendants. Dangote wants the court to cancel the permits issued in early May, arguing they breach an earlier order to keep things as they were.
According to documents seen by Reuters, six companies – NIPCO, AA Rano, Matrix Energy, Shafa Energy, Pinnacle Oil and Gas, and Bono Energy – received licences to import between 600,000 and 720,000 metric tonnes of petrol. Dangote contends that with its refinery producing about 36.5 million litres daily in February and covering over 90% of Nigeria’s demand, there’s no justification for more imports.
In the filing, Dangote said “these licences that were granted this month are contrary to the law and negatively impact our business”. The company insists the Petroleum Industry Act only allows imports when local supply falls short, and that continued approvals weaken investment in domestic refining.
Marketers and regulators have argued imports are still needed to avoid shortages. The NMDPRA had paused new import permits earlier this year after saying local output had improved.
This isn’t the first time. Dangote dropped a similar suit in July 2025 after government talks. Its $20bn, 650,000-barrel-per-day refinery was built to end Nigeria’s reliance on imported fuel, but imports have continued while production ramps up.
Neither the NMDPRA nor the Attorney General’s office had commented publicly as of Friday evening.
Sources: Vanguard, Reuters, ThisDay
