IPMAN Calls for Dialogue in Dangote Refinery Dispute

The National President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Abubakar Shettima, has called on the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) and the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) to engage in dialogue with the Dangote Petroleum Refinery rather than escalate their grievances in public or through government intervention.

Speaking in an interview, Shettima advised the groups to embrace negotiation as the most effective path to resolving disputes and safeguarding stability in the downstream oil sector.

“My advice to DAPPMAN and NUPENG is they should go to the negotiation table, sit and discuss, because all this going through the media and going to the government cannot help them. They should sit and have a dialogue,” he said.

He noted that with the Dangote Refinery—Africa’s largest—now operational, the oil and gas industry had entered a new era that requires stakeholders to adapt to change.

“Changes have already come to the industry and to the country, and whenever there are changes, the only thing we can do as business people is to go and sit down at the negotiation table, not go on strike or something else. Dangote is a Nigerian, and he will listen to them. Let them sit together and tell him all that they need,” he added.

The IPMAN president further reminded unions that the downstream petroleum sector has been deregulated, meaning businesses are free to operate without restrictions.

“The sector is already fully deregulated. So, you cannot tell an individual that he cannot do this or that. He is the owner of his own money. If he says he can give the product free, nobody can prevent him,” Shettima stressed.

Tensions have mounted in recent weeks following DAPPMAN’s accusations that the Dangote Refinery was distorting the petroleum products market through alleged price undercutting. The refinery dismissed the claims.

NUPENG also threatened to withdraw services, alleging anti-labour practices, including the reported ban on drivers of Dangote’s 4,000 compressed natural gas-powered trucks from joining the union. On September 8, the union shut down depots and operations at the refinery in protest.

DAPPMAN, meanwhile, clashed with the refinery after petrol prices were adjusted from ₦865 per litre to ₦841 in the South-West and ₦851 in Abuja, Edo, Rivers, Kwara, and Delta states. The association accused the refinery of trying to stifle importers whose cargoes were just arriving, while allegedly offering lower prices to international traders in Lome.

Adding his voice to the debate, billionaire businessman Femi Otedola urged DAPPMAN to embrace industry changes, stressing that outdated business models would not survive in the current landscape. Otedola, who founded DAPPMAN in 2002, said the association’s initial purpose was to challenge dominance by major marketers and provide opportunities for depot owners, but argued that realities have since shifted with the Dangote Refinery’s entry.

“Many of the original players have exited the scene, and those left are clinging to assets that no longer reflect today’s business realities. I advised some of them as far back as last year to sell their depots as scrap while they still had value. Nigeria now has over four million metric tonnes of storage capacity, most of it idle. With the Dangote refinery now supplying fuel locally, the old business model is crumbling,” he said.

Otedola highlighted the benefits of domestic refining, including reliable local supply and reduced gridlock around major Lagos ports caused by fuel imports.

Aliko Dangote, for his part, vowed not to allow his $20bn refinery investment to be undermined by what he described as “oil mafias.”

The refinery, situated in the Lekki Free Zone, Lagos, began production in 2024 with a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day. It is projected to significantly reduce Nigeria’s reliance on imported refined products.

Industry observers, however, warn that unresolved disputes among key stakeholders could undermine the refinery’s potential to stabilise the sector and deliver lower fuel prices for consumers.