The Nigerian House of Representatives has called upon Dangote and the NMDPRA to explain issues related to substandard petroleum products. Learn more about the ongoing investigation and its implications for the petroleum sector.

In order to get to the bottom of the urgent problem, the House of Representatives joint Committee on Midstream and Downstream has promised to conduct a thorough investigation by inviting all relevant parties. The committee is looking into allegations of domestic production of substandard petroleum products, non-availability of crude oil to domestic refineries, and other related matters.

Rep. Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, the joint committee’s chairman, said as much on Monday as the probe got underway.

He brought up a motion that the House had adopted on July 9, 2024, in plenary, stating that there was an urgent need to conduct a legislative forensic investigation into the issues affecting Nigeria’s downstream and midstream petroleum sectors as well as other related matters in order to find a long-term solution to all issues.

He pointed out that the House had adopted the motion and then directed the Committees on Petroleum Resources Midstream and Downstream to conduct a legislative forensic investigation into the allegations of high PMS costs, the disruption of PMS product distribution, the unfair subsidization of PMS and other petroleum products, the racketeering and favoritism in the Pro Forma Invoice System regime, and the resurgence of fuel queues in gas stations.

He continued by saying that the committee has formally started its thorough forensic legislative inquiry into a number of important matters that jeopardize the stability and public confidence in the petroleum sector.

Read Also: Dangote Refinery Defends Product Quality, Denies Substandard Claims

“First, we are addressing allegations regarding the importation of petroleum products that are substandard and the lack of crude oil available to domestic refineries, which has raised serious concerns about the quality and safety of fuel in our market,” Ugochinyere stated.

“We will also be closely examining the integrity of the nation’s petroleum product testing procedures, with a special emphasis on the capability and reliability of all testing facilities used by local middlemen and their affiliated laboratories, as well as all other stakeholders in the downstream midstream value chain.”The legislator went on to say that the committee was also tasked with looking into “the nefarious activities at petrol stations, the indiscriminate issuance of licences and importation of refined petroleum products, the alleged return of PMS price intervention, the allegation that products from NNPC Retail are unavailable to marketers, and the endless shifting of timelines for refinery rehabilitation.”

In addition, he announced that the committee would carry out a legislative forensic investigation into the following issues: the use of middlemen in the crude trading industry; the indiscriminate granting of licenses; the purported lack of international standard laboratories to verify adulterated products; the influx of contaminated products into the nation; the claim that profits from sales of crude marketing were not domiciled in local banks; the misuse of the PFI regime; the importation of goods already manufactured in Nigeria; and the use of international trading companies to resell fuel stock to domestic refineries at exorbitant markups.

In light of the foregoing, the joint committee decided that until the investigation’s conclusion and results are known, all parties involved in the heated dispute—Dangate Refinery, other refining companies, NMDPRA, marketers, and pertinent stakeholders—should stop making new accusations and rebuttals.

“We will be sending out invitation letters today for the submission of pertinent documentation and meetings with important players, regulatory agencies, State Oil Company, Petroleum Products Refining Companies, IPMAN, PETROAN, independent oil producers, international oil companies (IOCs), importers, marketers, depot owners, and too many other stakeholders to list.”