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 BREAKING: Dangote refinery in trouble! Company not licensed, products inferior – NMDPRA

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Nigeria’s hope of succour in form of availability and lower prices, coming from Dangote refinery, the first privately-owned entity in Nigeria, was dashed on Friday, with the authorities in charge of the petroleum industry in the country, giving one of the most damnatory verdicts against firm, reputed to be one of the biggest and most modern in the world.

Regardless the tall accolades, given to the company at its inauguration by former President, Muhammadu Buhari in May 2023, and the hope that it would be a game changer, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) on Thursday said the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote refinery is neither completed nor licensed for operations.

But more damning yet, is also the second part of the assessment so far, with Farouk Ahmed, the NMDPRA Chief Executive, disclosing that the products from the refinery were inferior than those currently being imported into the country, besides accusing the company of angling to monopolise the industry.

Ahmed who spoke against the outcry of Dangote within the week that it was deliberately being frustrated by the International Oil Companies (IOCs) by refusing to sell crude to them, told State House Correspondents, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja that the allegations were untrue.

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Hear him: “Well, just like you rightly asked, there are lots of concerns about the supply of petroleum products nationwide and the claims by some media houses that we were trying to scuttle the Dangote refinery; that is not so. Dangote refinery is still in the pre-commissioning stage. It has not been licenced yet. We have not licensed them yet. I think they are at about 45 per cent completion. So we can not rely heavily on one refinery to feed the nation because Dangote is requesting that we should suspend or stop all importation of petroleum products, especially automotive gas oil (AGO) or jet kero and direct all marketers to the refinery.”

Arguing that the expectation is not good for the nation in terms of energy security and also not good for markets because of monopoly, he added: “So, in terms of quality, currently, the AGO quality in terms of sulphur is the lowest as far as West Africa’s requirement of 50 parts per million (ppm). Dangote refinery, as well as some major refineries like Waltersmith refinery, produce between 650 ppm to 1,200 ppm. So, in terms of quality, their quality is much more inferior to the imported quality,” he said.

Devakumar Edwin, had on Monday, directly assailed the IOCs in Nigeria, accusing them of doing everything to frustrate the survival of Dangote Oil Refinery and Petrochemicals, by stifling the process of buying crude, including jerking up the high premium price above the market price, thereby forcing them to import crude from countries as far as the United States, with its attendant high costs.

 

His words: “If the Domestic Crude Supply Obligation (DCSO) guidelines are diligently implemented, this will ensure that we deal directly with the companies producing the crude oil in Nigeria as stipulated by the PIA. The IOCs operating in Nigeria have consistently frustrated the company’s requests for locally produced crude as feedstock for its refining process.

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“When cargoes are offered to the oil company by the trading arms, it is sometimes at a $2-$4 (per barrel) premium above the official price set by NUPRC. As an example, we paid $96.23 per barrel for a cargo of Bonga crude grade in April (excluding transport). The price consisted of $90.15 dated Brent price + $5.08 NNPC premium (NSP) + $1 trader premium. In the same month, we were able to buy WTI at a dated Brent price of $90.15 + $0.93 trader premium including transport.

“When NNPC subsequently lowered its premium based on market feedback that it was too high, some traders then started asking us for a premium of up to $4m over and above the NSP for a cargo of Bonny Light. Data on platforms like Platts and Argus shows that the price offered to us is way higher than the market prices tracked by these platforms. We recently had to escalate this to NUPRC”, Edwin said and urged the regulatory commission to take a second look at the issue of pricing.”

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Nafiu Gombe: Yes, I have sponsors! *I can’t fight ADC big men alone!

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Nafiu Bala Gombe, the man on whose behalf the African Democratic Congress (ADC), is currently in a prostrate state, has admitted to getting outside help in prosecuting his legal matters against the David Mark camp.

Recall that Mark, former Senate President and Rauf Aregbesola were, last week, derecognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and had their names struck out based on the case filed by Gombe on September 2, 2025.

The commission had relied on the pronouncement of the Court of Appeal, which ordered parties in the case to maintain status quo ante bellum, which it interpreted to mean that it should not deal with either side.

Against the backdrop of the dust the matter had raised across the country, the embattled ADC leadership, had accused the former Deputy Chairman of being sponsored by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to play the spoiler role to enable President Bola Tinubu have no challenge in the 2027 presidential election.

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Bolaji Abdullahi, spokesman of the Mark camp, had last week, stated this much when he wondered how Gombe, who on his own could not afford an ordinary lawyer, going by his financial status, would now be hiring more than three Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) to represent him, which would probably run into tens of millions of naira.

Reacting on Tuesday, Gombe admitted getting outside help, but added that such assistance was not coming from government quarters or the APC, but from public-spirited individuals and Nigerians averse to the injustice being meted out to him.

Abimuku Monday, spokesman to Gombe, who spoke during an appearance on Morning Briefs, a breakfast programme on Channels Television, on Tuesday, told his host: “Before now, they were saying these people are big weights and we’re light weights. Now, we’re suddenly being seen as human beings. Earlier, we were seen as nobodies – as boys who don’t have capacity to challenge this in court.

“They say Nafiu Bala does not even have money to pursue his case. You see, that’s how they reduce people by their own estimation. They don’t find out who people. They have forgotten that for you to seek legal actions, there are so many ways to go about it.

“It is either you use your own money or your personal relationship with people. Does it mean that somebody in politics cannot have his own friends or cannot have lawyers as his friend or cannot have other members of the society as his friends.

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“These are not members of the APC. They don’t belong to any party. They’re citizens of this country, who mean well for Nigeria. Nobody is scuttling the coalition. The fact remains that if you have a challenge, people will rally around you knowing it’s a good cause you’re fighting. People will rally around you to give you the necessary support that you need. They even called my principal a small boy.”

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Woman returns N1million discovered in purchased items to owner  

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Serah Luca, a Christian woman, has returned N1 million she unknowingly took along with goods purchased from a trader at Terminus market in Jos, Plateau state capital.

Luca, a petty trader, reportedly said she made the purchase on Friday and only discovered the hidden cash after getting home.

She said her decision to return the money was driven by fear of God and her belief that she could not keep what did not belong to her, especially knowing the hardship that comes with losing money in business.

“I am a petty businesswoman. I know what it means to suffer loss. If I put that kind of money into my business, I believe God would punish me,” Daily Trust quoted her as saying.

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The trader, Abubakar Dola, who deals in polythene bags at Terminus market, expressed surprise at the woman’s honesty, noting that he had no idea where the money went after mistakenly placing it inside the bag she bought.

Dola said he had planned to transfer the cash through a point of sales (POS) operator but became worried when he could not see the polythene bag where the money was kept.

“I mistakenly included it in what she bought. I didn’t realise until days later, and I had already given up hope. For her to return it after three days is remarkable. I pray Allah rewards her and gives us more people like her.”

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Strait of Hormuz: Comply now or you’ll be history – Trump warns Iran

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“The entire country could be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night,” were the words with which US President Donald Trump, flashed the redlight signal over what could be the fate of Iran in the coming hours, after a month-old war, which saw leaders of the Islamic nation, all but totally obliterated.

The POTUS, who on Saturday, gave Iran 48 hours to to open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic approaches, or comply or risk facing “hell,” later threatened that the US would blow up Iran’s power plants and bridges if Tehran failed to adhere to his warning.

However, in his latest threat on Monday, Trump told reporters that Iran had until Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET (1 am WAT) to make a deal, adding: “We have a plan, because of the power of our military, where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o’clock tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business – burning, exploding and never to be used again, I mean complete demolition – by 12 o’clock. And it’ll happen over a period of four hours if we want it to. We don’t want that to happen.”

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