The Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday adjourned a suit filed by Dangote Petroleum Re- finery and Petrochemicals FZE challenging the issuance of petroleum import licenses to major oil marketers.
The delay stemmed from the plaintiff’s failure to serve amended court documents on the defendants.
The suit, marked FHC/ ABJ/CS/1324/2024, alleges that the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) violated Sections 317(8) and (9) of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) by granting import licenses to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and other oil marketers, including AYM Shafa Limited, A.A. Rano Limited, and Matrix Petroleum Services Limited, without evidence of a national petroleum shortfall.
Dangote Refinery, represented by Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Ogwu Onoja, seeks a court declaration nullifying the licenses and a N100 billion damages claim against NMDPRA for allegedly acting in breach of the law. The refinery argues that the issuance of such licenses is permissible only when local supply falls short of demand.
When the case was called, George Ibrahim, counsel for the plaintiff, admitted that the amended originating summons had not been properly served. He also cited unresolved reconciliation issues and a need to amend the application due to earlier errors.
Ibrahim, however, said they had been unable to take steps to effect service of the processes and that issues of reconciliation had also not been looked into because of a motion filed to amend their originating summons due to the error discovered in the earlier application.
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