The latest move by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery to stop selling Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to Matrix Energy, A.A. Rano, AYM Shafa, NIPCO, Pinnacle Oil and Gas and Bono Energy has raised a bigger question that the Federal Government can no longer afford to ignore:
Is Dangote Refinery simply protecting its investment and demanding a level playing field — or is Nigeria gradually allowing one company to acquire excessive control over the nation’s petrol market?
The question is not an accusation of wrongdoing. It is a legitimate competition and national-interest question.
Dangote Refinery is undoubtedly a major strategic asset to Nigeria. Its emergence has transformed the country’s refining landscape and reduced dependence on imported petroleum products. But precisely because of its enormous capacity and growing influence, its relationship with marketers, importers and regulators requires close scrutiny.
The concern becomes more serious when a refinery with enormous production capacity can decide which major marketers it will supply while those same companies are being prevented, restricted or discouraged from using alternative sources of supply.
Nigeria must avoid replacing one form of dependency with another.
For years, Nigerians complained about dependence on imported petrol and the failures of the old petroleum supply system. Domestic refining was expected to create competition, strengthen energy security and ultimately give consumers more choices.
The objective should therefore not be to move from an import-dependent market to a single-source market.
That is where President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Federal Government must step in.
The government should not take sides in the commercial battle between Dangote Refinery and petroleum marketers. Its responsibility is to protect the Nigerian consumer and ensure that no participant regardless of its size, investment or influence is allowed to exercise excessive control over the market.
Interestingly, the monopoly question is not new.
In May 2026, NNPC argued in court that Dangote’s legal challenge against petrol import licences could create a monopoly, threaten competition and expose Nigeria to supply disruptions.
That warning deserves renewed attention following the latest development.
What Nigerians deserve to know
The Federal Government and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) should publicly answer some fundamental questions:
1. What percentage of Nigeria’s total PMS demand can Dangote Refinery currently supply consistently?
2. Can the refinery guarantee uninterrupted nationwide supply if competing importers are pushed out of the market?
3. What safeguards are in place to prevent a dominant supplier from using its market position to influence prices or supply conditions?
4. Can Dangote refuse to supply a licensed marketer simply because that marketer also has a government-approved import licence?
5. If import licences remain legally valid, what happens to the companies that have invested billions in securing cargoes and maintaining import infrastructure?
6. Does Nigeria have an effective competition framework specifically designed to prevent abuse of dominance in the downstream petroleum market?
7. What independent mechanism exists for determining whether Dangote’s pricing is competitive?
8. If imported petrol is genuinely a threat to local refining, why should the answer be to weaken competition rather than create transparent rules under which both domestic refiners and importers compete fairly?
These are not questions designed to undermine Dangote Refinery.
They are questions designed to protect the refinery itself, the petroleum industry and, most importantly, Nigerian consumers.
Tinubu must not allow a private monopoly to replace a public one
President Tinubu has repeatedly presented local refining as a cornerstone of Nigeria’s economic transformation.
That objective must be pursued without creating another form of market concentration.
The country has already experienced what happens when petroleum supply becomes excessively concentrated. Nigerians should not wake up tomorrow to discover that the government dismantled one inefficient system only to allow another powerful structure to emerge.
Dangote Refinery deserves protection from unfair competition.
But Nigerian consumers equally deserve protection from market dominance, discriminatory supply practices and excessive pricing power.
The answer is not to punish Dangote.
The answer is not to protect importers indefinitely either.
The answer is strong, independent and transparent regulation.
President Tinubu, in his capacity as Minister of Petroleum Resources, and the NMDPRA must therefore act before the question becomes bigger than the current dispute:
Who ultimately controls Nigeria’s petrol market — the government, market forces or one dominant refinery?
Nigeria needs local refining.
Nigeria needs competition.
And above all, Nigerians need a petrol market in which no single player becomes too powerful to challenge.
