Economy
Petrol Station Owners Set for Price War With Dangote
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) is set to engage the Dangote Oil Refinery in a price war.
On Monday, the association maintained that its members could sell petrol cheaper than the price Dangote refinery was currently offering oil marketers in Nigeria.
Dangote had on Sunday accused PETROAN of planning to make Nigeria a dumping ground for substandard petroleum products.
The company stressed that any organisation that imports fuels lower than it is currently selling was selling low-quality products.
However, in a statement by its National Public Relations Officer, Mr Joseph Obele, the group said its members have already successfully incorporated a strategic business unit for that purpose.
The organisation noted that the agenda of President Bola Tinubu for the oil sector remains inimical to advocates and beneficiaries of a monopolistic market.
PETROAN stressed that President Tinubu’s interventions were meant to liberalise the downstream sector by building an all-inclusive market.
“Intensive or aggressive competition in any market brings the best value for money exchange for a commodity. Consumers get the best value for pricing when competition is at its peak, hence competition should be encouraged.
“Contrary to competition, such a market will be exploitative and strictly for profiteering. The publication by Dangote refinery that PETROAN will import substandard petroleum products is not coming as a surprise to stakeholders, because such is his usual gimmick for maintaining a monopoly,” it added.
PETROAN argued that it has never compared the price of Dangote petrol with any other, based on the fact that Dangote’s price wasn’t known until the company’s disclosure recently.
“PETROAN has concluded plans with her foreign refinery counterparts and financial partners to import the best quality of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and then sell far less than the present selling rate of PMS in Nigeria.
“We planned to enter the market before December 2024, pending the approval of our import permit licence by the regulatory agency and access to foreign exchange from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the official rate.
“Before now, Dangote Refinery had refused to make public her selling rate of PMS until IPMAN and PETROAN announced readiness to sell less. The rate of N990 as announced by Dangote Refinery was inconsiderate based on the fact Dangote Refinery enjoyed massive concessions for accessing foreign exchange during the construction of the refinery.
“The core determinant for setting the price is a consideration for the cost of production, then the addition of a fair margin. But this wasn’t the case for the determination of PMS price by Dangote Refinery as they said the parameter was in comparison with the international selling rate at the global market,” it accused.
It also noted that diesel as a deregulated product was selling for less than N800 in the Nigerian market a few weeks before the commencement of diesel production by the Dangote Refinery.
“At the entrance of the market by Dangote refinery, we witnessed a rapid surge above N1,000. PETROAN uses this medium to commend Mr President for his commitment towards the revamping of the nation-owned refineries.
“We will maintain our position by counselling that the Port Harcourt and Warri Refinery plant after rehabilitation should immediately be privatised and handed over to a reputable firm that has the technical capability, managerial skills and financial strength in partnership with PETROAN and other critical stakeholders.
“This will enable the operators of the government-owned refineries to withstand aggressive competition that will be posed by the known beneficiaries of the monopolistic market,” it added.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is seeking a reduction in import duty exemptions, which rose to N34 trillion, limiting its ability to increase its revenue generation threshold.
The Comptroller-General of the Customs Service, Mr Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed that the value of import duty exemption certificate approvals increased to that level in 2025, describing the policy as one of the major factors restricting its revenue generation.
At an investigative session of the Senate Committee on Finance with revenue-generating agencies in Abuja on Monday, Mr Adeniyi explained that government fiscal policies have continued to impact the revenue-generating capacity of the Customs Service, both positively and negatively.
“The NCS would have generated significantly higher revenue over the years if not for government-approved import duty waivers and other external factors affecting collections,” he said.
He added that the Import Duty Exemption Certificate scheme, introduced in March 2020, accounted for about N34 trillion in approvals in 2025, with nearly 60 per cent covering duty-free importation of military hardware due to Nigeria’s prevailing security challenges.
Other government-backed duty waivers, he noted, covered the importation of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), electric and hybrid vehicles, healthcare equipment and medical supplies, industrial machinery and manufacturing inputs, as well as food import intervention programmes.
While acknowledging the impact of the waivers on Customs revenue, Mr Adeniyi argued that fiscal policy should not be assessed solely on the basis of revenue generation but also on its broader economic and social objectives.
He, however, urged the federal government to establish stronger monitoring mechanisms to ensure beneficiaries of duty waivers deliver the intended economic outcomes, including lower consumer prices, increased local production and improved healthcare access.
The committee also expressed displeasure over the absence of several heads of government agencies invited to the hearing, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), and the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Mr Sani Musa, warned that the affected chief executives must appear at the committee’s next sitting or face severe sanctions under the Senate’s rules.
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By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.40 per cent on Monday, July 13, buoyed by buying interest in 11 Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and UBN Property Plc, which offset the profit-taking in Food Concepts Plc, the parent company of Chicken Republic.
11 Plc gained N20.69 to end at N227.64 per share compared with last Friday’s price of N206.95 per share, CSCS Plc grew by N1.83 to N91.48 per unit from N89.65 per unit, and UBN Property Plc added 1 Kobo to sell at N1.81 per share versus N1.80 per share.
On the flip side, Food Concepts Plc depreciated by 24 Kobo to close at N2.45 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N2.69 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation increased by N9.2 billion to N2.587 trillion from N2.578 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) improved by 15.33 points to 4,311.67 points from 4,296.34 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors surged by 615.9 per cent to 9.1 million units from the previous 1.3 million units, and the value of securities rose by 997.1 per cent to N320.4 million from the preceding session’s N29.2 million, while the number of deals decreased by 12.5 per cent to 28 deals from last Friday’s 32 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 73.9 million units exchanged for N5.2 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
