A Federal High Court in Lagos has extended an interim order stopping Nigeria’s midstream and downstream petroleum regulator from entering, sealing or otherwise interfering with Aliko Dangote’s oil refinery, four days before the company opens what is billed as the largest share sale in African history. thisdaylive.com
Justice Akintayo Aluko ruled on 9 September that the 31 August order remains in force until a motion on notice is heard, or until the court gives a further directive. He was sitting as a vacation judge. After hearing arguments, he declined to fix a new date, sent the file back to the registry for reassignment to a regular court, and left the refinery under court protection with no hearing scheduled. thisdaylive.com
The refinery’s offer of 4.1 billion shares at ₦525 each is due to open on 14 September. If fully subscribed, the sale would raise about ₦2.15 trillion (roughly $1.6 billion) and form part of a financing plan that already includes a $2.5 billion private placement. Proceeds are earmarked for expansion toward 1.4 million barrels a day. allafrica.com
What the regulator says
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) asked the court to discharge the order. It argued that the refinery obtained the injunction by misrepresenting facts and that the vacation judge lacked jurisdiction because the required motion on notice had not been filed when the original ex-parte order was granted. punchng.com
The immediate dispute concerns propane and LPG. NMDPRA told the court that laboratory tests on samples from three plants — identified in court papers as Selai, Tewa and Ameego Pago — found propane content above 50 percent. Industry specification, it said, requires propane of no more than 20 percent, with butane making up the balance. It claimed the higher vapour pressure (about 13 bar versus a 7-bar maximum for standard LPG mixtures) creates an explosion risk at refilling plants not built for that specification. punchng.com
The regulator also alleged discrepancies in truck-out manifests, including 19 of 25 trucks unaccounted for on one delivery, and said its officials were denied access when they tried to inspect propane-loading operations and records on 24 August. That same day it issued a directive suspending loading and truck-out of products from the refinery. Counsel for the authority, Matthew Burkaa, SAN, argued the products are highly inflammable, widely used in homes, and that prolonged restraint of the regulator carried public-safety implications for the LPG market. thisdaylive.com
What Dangote says
Dangote Group spokesman Anthony Chiejina rejected the account. He said NMDPRA officials are stationed at the refinery and certified the propane before it left the gate. Responsibility ends there, he argued, because independent off-takers collect the product in their own trucks. Any later blending, diversion or arrest of a truck elsewhere, he said, is not the refinery’s problem. He described the regulator’s conduct as an abuse of power. punchng.com
Counsel for the refinery, Wale Akoni, SAN, told the court the real question is statutory authority: whether NMDPRA can regulate LPG operations and take enforcement measures against a plant inside a free zone. Safety claims, he said, belong in the main suit, not at the interlocutory stage. thisdaylive.com
The larger fight: who regulates a free zone?
Underneath the propane argument sits a jurisdictional dispute with wider implications. The refinery sits in the Lekki Free Zone (also referred to as the Dangote Industrial Free Zone). Dangote’s case is that NMDPRA has no oversight powers inside free zones at all. The company cites a 2 March letter from the Attorney-General of the Federation stating that the authority is not entitled to exercise regulatory or oversight functions over operations within free zones. Justice Aluko referred to that letter when he first granted the injunction. dailytrust.com
NMDPRA’s position is that its mandate under the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 covers all midstream and downstream activity, and that location in a free zone does not exempt a petroleum facility from that regime. legit.ng
The judge did not decide those questions. He held that the court has an inherent duty to preserve the subject matter of the litigation so that neither side can present the other with a fait accompli. Relying on Order 26 of the Federal High Court rules, he extended the existing restraint and directed that the motion to discharge and the motion for interlocutory injunction be heard together — after the file is reassigned. thisdaylive.com
The 31 August order bars the authority, its officers and agents from entering, sealing, shutting down, restricting access, obstructing, inspecting, supervising, sanctioning or otherwise interfering with the refinery’s operations, terminals, storage, blending and loading facilities in the zone, pending determination​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​