A recent viral media report claimed the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) revoked 32 refinery licenses in Nigeria.
VERDICT: False. DPR has debunked the claim. DPR said the licenses became inactive. The companies with the licenses can reapply for revalidation and this does not in any way translate to the revocation of the licences of the companies.
Full Text
Media reports claimed that DPR revoked 32 refinery licenses in the country.
The reports were also widely circulated in the social media.
For instance, a news platform, Gidipoint, tweeted the claim on its Twitter handle @officialgidip, with over 9,800 followers.
The Twitter page tweeted: “DPR revokes 32 refinery licenses, says Dangote plant 80% complete: Thirty-two refinery project licenses issued to private investors in the country have become invalid in the past three years, according to the Department of Petroleum Resources.”
The page further tweeted that the DPR said “that the number of valid refinery project licences stood at 23 as of March 2021, down from 44 in April 2018.”
Similarly, a Twitter user, with the handle, @Mrpossidez and over 7,500 followers, also tweeted the claim.
He tweeted: “The Department of Petroleum Resources has revoked 32 refinery licenses initially issued to private investors in the last year. The DPR assured on Monday that Dangote’s refinery is 80% complete. No need to fret. Lol.”
But how true is the claim that 32 refinery licenses have been revoked?
Verification
The Head of Public Affairs of DPR, Mr Paul Osu, debunked the claim.
In a statement, Mr Osu said DPR has not revoked any petrol refinery licences.
“Our attention has been drawn to a report in some publications stating that DPR has revoked 32 refinery licences issued to private companies in Nigeria. We wish to clarify that DPR did not revoke any refinery licence,” he clarified.
The statement further stated that refinery licences have validity periods for investors to attain certain milestones.
“This implies that after the validity period for the particular milestone, the licence becomes inactive until the company reapplies for revalidation to migrate to another milestone,” the Department said.
The DPR said this does not in any way translate to the revocation of the licence of the company.
Similarly, the Special Assistant to the President on Digital and New Media, Tolu Ogunlesi, described the revocation claim as “misinformation.”
He tweeted, “Misinformation by those who should be informing and enlightening us. I bet only a fraction of those who saw the original false report will see the official debunking and the half-hearted clarification.”
Conclusion
The claim that DPR revoked 32 refinery licenses is false. DPR has debunked the claim. DPR said the licenses became inactive. The companies with the licenses can reapply for revalidation and this does not in any way translate to the revocation of the licences of the companies.
