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A brand new report has indicated that Nigeria’s petroleum merchandise import from Malta elevated by 342 % in 2023 to $2.08 billion. This surge coincides with President Bola Tinubu’s inauguration and follows allegations by the Dangote Group that Nigerian Nationwide Petroleum Firm Restricted (NNPC) officers personal mixing crops in Malta, importing substandard merchandise into Nigeria.
The report from the famend knowledge evaluation agency Statisense revealed a major shift in Nigeria’s petroleum import dynamics over the previous decade. The information exhibits a dramatic decline within the nation’s reliance on petroleum merchandise imported from Malta through the Buhari administration, however elevated considerably the Yr he handover to Tinubu.
Financial Confidential reviews that the info printed by Statisense was synchronized with that of Commerce Map, a world database on Worldwide commerce.
Based on the info, Nigeria’s petroleum imports from Malta reached a excessive of $117.01 million in 2015, a interval that spanned the administrations of former President Goodluck Jonathan and the early years of President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure.
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Nevertheless, this determine plummeted to simply $13.32 million in 2016, the primary full yr of Buhari’s presidency. The information additional exhibits that from 2017 to 2022 of Buhari’s administration, Nigeria recorded no petroleum imports from Malta in anyway, a stark distinction to the previous years.
The pattern seems to have taken a major flip in 2023, with the info indicating a pointy rise in imports to $2.08 billion through the early days of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Financial Confidential reviews that the resurgence of petroleum imports from Malta in 2023 underneath the Tinubu administration has raised questions in regards to the sustainability.
Allegations of substandard gas imports additionally sparked a dispute when Dangote claimed that some NNPC officers and oil merchants personal mixing crops in Malta, from which they import inferior merchandise into Nigeria.
Nevertheless, NNPC’s Group Chief Govt Officer, Mele Kyari, has denied these allegations. He said that he’s unaware of any mixing plant in Malta owned by NNPC workers or himself. Kyari emphasised that he solely operates an area mini agricultural enterprise and has no different enterprise pursuits.
This controversy follows a current dispute between Dangote Refinery and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA). The NMDPRA CEO, Farouk Ahmed, had claimed that diesel from Dangote Refinery is of decrease high quality in comparison with imported gas. This accusation led to widespread outrage and requires Ahmed’s suspension by the Home of Representatives.
The developments come as Dangote Refinery prepares to begin gas provide within the Nigerian home market from August 2024.
