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🇳🇬 Nigeria /Energy & Infrastructure

Lagos Court Bars NMDPRA From Shutting Down or Interfering With Dangote Refinery

From ThisDay · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Documents & data In the courts
  • A Federal High Court in Lagos barred the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority from enforcing a directive suspending petroleum loading and truck-out operations at Dangote Refinery.
  • The interim order also prevents the regulator and its representatives from entering, inspecting, sealing, shutting down or otherwise interfering with the refinery at the Lekki Free Zone.
  • The court said Dangote’s challenge raised serious questions about whether NMDPRA has regulatory authority over operations in free zones, pending further proceedings.

A Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered Nigeria’s petroleum regulator to stay away from Dangote Refinery, blocking efforts to suspend the facility’s loading and truck-out operations.

clearly stated

— Justice Akintayo AlukoThe judge’s description of the attorney-general’s March 2 letter on NMDPRA’s authority in free zones.

Justice Akintayo Aluko issued the interim injunction after Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE challenged an Aug. 24 directive by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority. The order covers the refinery’s operations at the Lekki Free Zone and bars NMDPRA, its officers, agents and representatives from entering, sealing, shutting down, restricting access to, inspecting, supervising or otherwise disrupting the facility.

The dispute centers on the regulator’s authority inside free zones. Dangote argues that NMDPRA lacks powers that can affect operations in the Dangote Industrial Free Zone. The judge said the materials filed by the refinery raised “serious issues for determination,” including whether the regulator can exercise oversight there.

serious issues for determination

— Justice Akintayo AlukoThe court’s explanation of why it granted interim protection to the refinery.

Aluko also referred to a March 2 letter from Nigeria’s attorney-general, which he said “clearly stated” that NMDPRA was not entitled to exercise regulatory or oversight functions over operations within free zones. The judge said the court’s immediate task was to preserve the subject of the dispute until it hears Dangote’s motion on notice. He described the application as an effort to “preserve the res” while the substantive issues are determined.

What the plaintiff has asked this court to do is to preserve the res pending the determination of the motion on notice

— Justice Akintayo AlukoThe judge’s explanation that the order preserves the dispute’s subject matter until further proceedings.
About this summary

Originally published by ThisDay in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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