The federal government has granted approval to six companies for the importation of petroleum products.
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) had earlier said three oil marketers will start importing petroleum products in July.
Briefing journalists after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu on Monday, Farouk Ahmed, the chief executive officer (CEO) of NMDPRA, said the number has increased to six.
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He said apart from the six firms, a number of companies have applied for permits.
“There are several companies that applied for fuel importation permit. So, you can apply for importation to get access to the port. And by the way, we are open to all those who are interested in importing,” he said.
“We have guidelines which are not very stringent because we are trying to encourage importation.
“There are six companies who said they want to import fuel in July. Of course, all the others may import in December, in 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 fuel sufficiency, so we do not anticipate any gap in supply or in distribution.”
Ahmed also denied claims that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) had given approval to Dangote Group to import petroleum products, saying the company has no power to give such a directive.
(Cable)
