The Dangote Group has withdrawn a suit seeking the award of N100 billion in damages against the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) for allegedly proceeding to issue import licenses to the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) and other companies.
The Group’s Chief Branding and Communications Officer, Anthony Chiejina, said the company would withdraw the matter by the adjourned date in January.
He said the matter was an old issue that started in June and culminated in a matter being filed in September 6.
“Currently, the parties are in discussion since the President Bola Tinubu’s directive on crude oil and refined products sales in naira initiative, which was approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC),” he said.
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“We have made tremendous progress in that regard and events have overtaken this development.
“No party has been served with court processes and there is no intention of doing so. We have agreed to put a halt to the proceedings.
“It is important to stress that no orders have been made and there are no adverse effects on any party. We understand that once the matter comes up January 2025, we would be ina position to formally withdraw the matter in court.”
It would be recalled that the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE had asked a Federal High Court in Abuja to void all licenses recently issued for the importation of petroleum products into the country.
Dangote Petroleum sought the award of N100 billion in damages against NMDPRA for allegedly proceeding to issue import licenses to the NNPCL and Matrix Petroleum Services Limited (Matrix) for the importation of petroleum products such as Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) and Jet-A1Fuel (aviation turbine fuel) into the country despite its production of these products and which he said was in breach of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1324/2024 and brought by Dangote Petroleum’s counsel, Ogwu Onoja (SAN) joins the NMDPRA, NNPCL, A.Y.M. Shafa Holdings Limited, A. A. Rano Limited, T. Time Petroleum Limited, 2015 Petroleum Limited, and Matrix Petroleum Services Limited as defendants.
In a supporting affidavit, the Group General Manager of Government and Strategic Relations of Dangote Petroleum, Ahmed Hashem stated that the import licenses granted to other companies by NMDPRA for the importation of AGO and Jet-A1 are crippling the firm’s business, which it has invested billions of dollars.
Hashem also said the court ought to intervene to stop the violation of the provisions of the PIA.
Among the reliefs in the matter is “A declaration that by the provisions of Section 8(1) of the Nigerian Export Processing Zone Act (NEPZA), Sections 23(h) and 55(1) of the Companies Income Tax Act (CIT Act), Paragraph 6 of the Second Schedule to the CIT Act, Regulation 54(2)(a)(i) of the Dangote Industries Free Zone Regulation 2020, and the Finance Act, the plaintiff, being an entity duly registered as a Free-Zone Enterprise, is exempted from all federal, state, and local government taxes, levies, and other rates.”
Meanwhile, one of Dangote’s counsel, George Ibrahim (SAN) informed the court that there are moves for an out-of-court settlement of the dispute among parties.
He, therefore, requested for an adjournment of the matter to enable discussions to continue.
Consequently, Justice Inyang Ekwo fixed January 20, 2025 for hearing.
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