SIX new companies have received approval to import petroleum products into Nigeria, the Federal Government has said.
This was made known on Monday by the Managing Director of Nigeria Mainstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority – NMDRA, Farouk Ahmed.
Ahmed told journalists at the Presidential Villa that apart from the approved six, several companies applied for permits to import petroleum in due course.
He however, debunked rumour that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited – NNPCL, had given approval to Dangote Group to import petroleum, saying that the company has no powers to give such approval.
Ahmed added that several companies applied for fuel importation permits, adding that anyone can apply for importation to get access to the port as the authority is open to all those interested in importing.
“There are six companies who said they want to import fuel in July. Of course, all the others may import in December, November, or anytime but those who expressed interest to bring in fuel in July there were six of them as of this morning.
“The beauty of it is that there are interests which means that they have been able to have access to foreign exchange in order to import.
“Now, as we go along, of course, we’ll be briefing you on the progress or the achievements so far, but the important thing is that NNPC has 30 days of fuel sufficiency, so we do not anticipate any gap in supply or in distribution.”
