National Assembly Calls for Oil Marketers Accountability

The National Assembly demanded a list of oil marketers who breached the Direct Supply Direct Purchase (DSDP) contract, contributing to prolonged fuel shortages nationwide. This action followed Senate and House of Representatives’ Committee on Petroleum’s investigation into the crisis.

Senator Kabiru Marafa, chair of the committee, warned that the Legislature would recommend severe sanctions against operators he identified as engaging in economic sabotage through non-compliance with the DSDP agreement.

Central Bank of Nigeria documents indicate oil marketers received $3.3 billion between June 2016 and August 2017 to supply 6.8 billion liters of petroleum products, equivalent to 40 million liters daily.

However, the marketers fulfilled only 108 days of the 189-day period during which foreign exchange interventions were allocated by the Central Bank, highlighting significant underperformance.

The Ministry of Petroleum Resources confirmed it is reviewing the incident to bar non-compliant marketers from future schemes and ensure prequalified entities meet financial and operational requirements.

Additionally, the ministry stated that landing costs for petroleum products currently stand at N170–171, with plans to address logistical constraints through three modalities to support market operations.