Nigerian petrol marketers to dump Dangote Refinery for cheaper fuel.

Nigerian petroleum product marketers have announced plans to abandon Dangote Refinery’s petrol in favour of cheaper imported fuel.

The spokesperson of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, Chinedu Ukadike, disclosed this to DAILY POST on Friday.

This follows the drop in the landing cost of imported fuel to N839.97 per litre, which is N37 cheaper than Dangote Refinery’s gantry petrol price of N877 per litre.

Commenting on the development, Ukadike hinted that petroleum marketers would opt for imported fuel to enable Nigerians to access cheaper petrol.

He noted that the price disparity was a result of the liberalisation and deregulation of the country’s downstream sector.

“It is due to the liberalisation of the sector, which has set the tune for a price war. Marketers now have the option to buy either at N877 per litre with Dangote Refinery or N839 with MEMAN.
“The concern here is why would a local refinery (Dangote) sell petrol higher than imported ones?
“As petroleum product marketers, Nigerians are interested in buying petrol that is cheaper. When we have cheaper fuel, it sells faster,” he told DAILY POST.

ex-depot prices of Emedab, Gulf Treasure, Ardova and Bono stood at N875 per litre, while that of Dangote Refinery remained at N877.

As of Friday evening, petrol was being sold at between N950 and N965 per litre at Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, MRS, Ranoil, Total and Emedab retail outlets in Abuja.

You’re A Stupid Boy, God Will Punish You’ Otedola Reveals How Obasanjo Tackled Him.

Billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola, has revealed an incident where former President Olusegun Obasanjo flew into a rage after being told that there was diesel scarcity across the country because of deregulation.

Naija News reports that Femi Otedola revealed this in his forthcoming book, ‘Making It Big: Lessons from a Life in Business’.

According to Otedola, Obasanjo was so angry that he accused the billionaire of misleading him to deregulate the importation of the product, over which the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) used to have absolute monopoly.

Otedola, who owned Zenon Petroleum, had assured Obasanjo that the private sector could meet local demand without the involvement of the NNPC, which was selling below market price and getting subsidy reimbursement from the federal government.

The government liberalised the diesel market in 2004, making it the first petroleum product to be fully free of subsidy and ending the associated rent culture.

According to The Cable, the billionaire businessman wrote: “When President Obasanjo deregulated diesel in 2004, Zenon took an unassailable lead in the market. My opponents’ reaction was to tell the president that we’d turned the market upside down [and that the] economy was about to be brought down because there was no diesel, and Obasanjo was mad at me because he’d sought and received assurances from us that NNPC’s exit from diesel importation wouldn’t affect supply. My critics then fanned the flames by telling him there was no diesel in the country, that trucks couldn’t move and that industries were shutting down.”

He continued: “The President… called me at 2 am, shouting through the phone. ‘You’re a stupid boy! God will punish you! You persuaded me to deregulate diesel, and now there’s no diesel in the country!’ He was livid. I flew to Abuja the following day. As soon as Obasanjo saw me, he flew into a rage again. ‘What kind of rubbish is this? What kind of nonsense is this?’ He was right in my face, screaming at the top of his lungs. I allowed him to cool down, and when he stopped talking, I tried to explain the situation. ‘Baba, they’re lying to you. It’s all lies. I have six ships waiting to discharge big supplies of diesel.’”

“I was even paying demurrage. I told the president that I was the victim of competitors’ backbiting,” he wrote, saying he asked Obasanjo to “see what they come up with next… You’ll see that it’s me who’s telling you the truth.”

Otedola said he told Obasanjo he would start advertising the availability and price of diesel on the front page of the newspapers, addressing any concerns about fair and consistent pricing.

Petrol Prices Drop Below Dangote’s as Importers Slash Rates.

Fuel importers have slashed petrol prices below those of Dangote Refinery, intensifying market competition and drawing fresh debate over the future of fuel importation in Nigeria.

Filling stations in Lagos and Ogun are now selling petrol for as low as ₦847 per litre, compared to ₦865–₦875 at outlets affiliated with Dangote, such as MRS and Heyden. Some depots have dropped their prices to ₦815, while Dangote Refinery’s ex-depot price stands at ₦820.

This development comes as Dangote Group President, Aliko Dangote, urged the Federal Government to ban fuel imports to protect local refiners. He accused importers of flooding Nigeria with subsidised or low-quality fuel, particularly products sourced from Russia, which he described as “t+xic” and banned in Europe.

“At these prices, local refiners cannot survive,” he said, warning that d¥mping thr+atens investments and undermines domestic production.However, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) disagrees.

Its spokesperson, Chinedu Ukadike, defended the current competitive pricing, describing it as a positive result of market liberalisation. “This is why we support deregulation. It encourages fair pricing. Banning imports would h¥rt consumers,” he said.

He added that regulatory agencies are in place to prevent the importation of substandard fuel and emphasized that open competition will drive efficiency and affordability. While Dangote calls for protectionist measures under the Nigeria First policy, marketers argue that true market freedom ensures lower prices and stability.

The cl+sh highlights ongoing tensions in Nigeria’s fuel market, as the country navigates between encouraging local refining and maintaining a liberalised economy.