The federal government has granted approval to six companies to import petroleum products in the month of July, the Managing Director of the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDRA), Farouk Ahmed, has disclosed.
Ahmed debunked the insinuation that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) had given approval to the Dangote Group to import petroleum, saying that the company has no power to give such approval.
“There are several companies that applied for a fuel importation permit. So, you can apply for importation to get access to the port. And by the way, we are open to all those who are interested in importing.
“We have guidelines which are not very stringent because we’re trying to encourage importation.
“There are six companies who said they want to import fuel in July. Of course, all the others may import in December, or anytime but only six had expressed interest to bring in fuel in July as of this morning.
“Now, as we go along, of course, we’ll be briefing you on the progress or the achievements so far, but the important thing is that NNPCL has 30 days of fuel sufficiency, so we do not anticipate any gap in supply or in distribution”, he said.
