Court dismisses NNPCL objection to Dangote Refinery’s N100B suit seeking to void petroleum Import Licences
BY ANDREW OROLUA
The Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday dismissed the objections to Dangote Refinery suit seeking to prevent the issuance of petroleum import licenses to five companies.
The objections was raised by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) against the N100B suit instituted by Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE against the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) over issuance of import licence to five oil companies.
Dangote Petroleum Refinery had approached the Federal High Court in Abuja, praying it to void the import licenses issued to the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPC), Matrix Petroleum Services Limited, A. A. Rano Limited, and four other companies.
The case of the refinery company is that the import licences issued to the defendants should be voided on the ground that it is already producing the imported petroleum products needed by those companies without shortfalls.
In suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1324/2024, Dangote Refinery is also seeking N100 billion in damages against NMDPRA) for allegedly continuing to issue import licenses to NNPCL, Matrix, and other companies for importing petroleum products such as Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) and Jet Fuel (aviation turbine fuel) into Nigeria, “despite the production of AGO and Jet-A1 that exceeds the current daily consumption of petroleum products in Nigeria by the Dangote Refinery.”
Other defendants in the suit are NMDPRA, Aym Shafa Limited, T. Time Petroleum Limited, and 2015 Petroleum Limited.
The plaintiff in its originating summons dated September 6, 2024, through its lawyer, Ogwu James Onoja, SAN, asked the court to declare that NMDPRA is violating Sections 317(8) and (9) of the Petroleum Industry Act by issuing licenses for the importation of petroleum products.
Onoja stated that such licenses should only be issued in circumstances where there is petroleum product shortfall and urged the court to declare that the NMDPRA is in violation of its statutory responsibilities under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) for not encouraging local refineries such as Dangote Refinery.
However, NNPCL in a vehement objection against the suit demanded its outright dismissal on the ground that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear and determine the suit as constituted.
In the alternative, NNPCL asked Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo to remove its name from the suit on various grounds.
Among others, NNPCL claimed its real is Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and not Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited as put in the suit by Dangote Refinery.
Besides, NNPCL claimed that the suit was premature at the time it was filed and that it disclosed no reasonable cause of action for the court to dabble into.
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In his ruling, Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo disagreed with NNPCL adding that a mere error in the spelling of its name cannot cause any doubt about its identity.
Justice Ekwo ordered that Dangote refinery represented by Ibrahim George SAN should amend its originating processes to reflect the correct name of the entity.
The Judge subsequently fixed May 6 for further mention into the suit.
