The National President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Abubakar Maigandi, has raised concerns over claims by Dangote Group’s President, Aliko Dangote, that the 650,000 barrels-per-day refinery currently holds 500 million litres of premium motor spirit (PMS) in stock for Nigerian supply.
Maigandi pointed out that, despite being contracted by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to lift products from the Lagos refinery, IPMAN members could not load petrol for four consecutive days.
He further stated that oil marketers had paid NNPCL N40 billion but have yet to receive any product from the refinery.
It would be recalled that on Tuesday, Dangote encouraged petroleum marketers, including NNPCL, to source petrol directly from his refinery to meet local demand, noting the facility’s capacity to produce over 30 million litres of fuel daily and maintain a reserve that could sustain Nigeria for more than 12 days without imports.
Following a closed-door meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, Dangote expressed confidence in the refinery’s capacity, saying, “We’re more than ready.”
“As we speak today, we have 500 million litres in our tanks… This will take the country more than 12 days, you know, with no imports, with no production, nothing,” he assured State House correspondents.
In response, Maigandi expressed skepticism over the fuel stock claim, highlighting logistical challenges that IPMAN members faced.
He was particularly surprised by Dangote’s remark that marketers were bypassing his refinery in favor of imported fuel.
“If he (Dangote) can be able to sell the product to us directly, we can buy the product because we have to pay before we pick. Presently, we have N40bn under the NNPCL custody, but we cannot source the product.
“Recently, some of my marketers were sent by NNPCL to load at Dangote’s refinery, but they waited with their trucks for four days and couldn’t load. So I was surprised when Dangote said he has over 500 million litres of PMS. We are ready to buy the product from Dangote if he is ready to sell it to us directly,” Maigandi explained.
He further suggested that, instead of relying on NNPCL as a middleman, the private refinery should directly register independent petrol marketers to streamline product access and loading.
