NMDPRA boss: Dangote can’t intimidate me over petroleum marketing

The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Engr. Farouk Ahmed, says he will not be intimidated by powerful commercial interests in the discharge of his regulatory duties in the petroleum sector.

The President of Dangote Petroleum Refinery, Aliko Dangote, had accused him of economic sabotage with reckless issuance of licences for petroleum importation.

Responding to criticisms over fuel import licensing and petroleum marketing, Ahmed said the authority’s decisions are guided strictly by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) and Nigeria’s national interest, not by the preferences of any individual or company.

He explained that granting import licences when domestic supply is insufficient is a statutory obligation aimed at ensuring supply security and preventing fuel scarcity, not an act of economic sabotage.

“A single-source supply model, regardless of ownership, creates dangerous vulnerabilities that no responsible regulator can ignore,” Ahmed said in a statement issued on Tuesday, December 16, 2025.

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The NMDPRA boss noted that recent enforcement of stricter quality standards, transparent pricing mechanisms and licensing reforms has disrupted entrenched interests that previously benefited from regulatory opacity.

“These reforms have naturally created friction with entities whose business models depended on preferential treatment,” he said, adding that such resistance would not deter the authority from carrying out its mandate.

Ahmed insisted that regulatory independence sometimes comes at a personal cost but maintained that he would not abandon statutory responsibilities or grant favours to any entity, “regardless of their economic power or media reach.”

He also called for full investigations by relevant agencies into his conduct and finances, saying he would cooperate fully.

The Star