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Ijegun Satellite depot owners accuse NIMASA, NPA of charging in dollars, distributes 150m litres to ease fuel scarcity
Chairman Owners of Petroleum Products Tank Farms in Ijegun-Egba, Satellite Town, Lagos, Mr. Debo Olujimi has frowned at NIMASA and NPA for charging in dollars, this has also increased the cost of shipment of petroleum product importation. He said currently, the price has reduced, we encourage NNPCL to get additional vessel; at the moment the price is between $60, 000 to $65,000 dollars per day. Some of us have taken the bull by the horn to encourage ourselves by selling the product at the official price, even if the margin is small,” he added. He said the ongoing distribution of petrol at official price was part of the contributions of his members to society. On smuggling, Olujimi advised all government agencies saddled with the responsibility at the borders to live up to their expectation and bring the culprits to book.
According to him, in February NNPCL allocated over 150 million litres of petrol to satellite depots. “We are assuring Nigerians that the product will be sold at regulated price and we have commenced massive loading to all states of the federation to ease scarcity. We want Nigerians to trust us, and we assure that the product will be distributed effectively as directed by government to ease scarcity and eradicate panic buying. In going forward the product will be sold at the regulated pump price in all Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and Major Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) filling stations across the country. We have also directed that all depots within the satellite Ijegun depot that sell above the regulated ex-depot price would be sanctioned,” he said. Olujimi said that most of the depots within satellite areas had wider spread across the country, adding that this made it easier to ease scarcity.
Olujimi, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Emadeb Energy Services, said the tank farms located in Satellite Town played a pivotal part in petroleum distribution in Nigeria, accounting for 35 per cent of national petroleum product distribution. According to him, the tank farms are an integral part of the petroleum product supply chain ensuring product supply, energy stability and energy security. “We have played, and will continue to play significant roles in the supply and distribution of petroleum products across the nation. We want to give Nigerians assurance that petrol is available and we have started loading it out to various states and stations across the nooks and crannies of Nigeria,” he added. Olujimi said that the transfer of product from mother vessel, which usually cost $21,000 by day had increased to $85,000 per day, which is N850, 000.
He said the process which often required 10 days posed a serious challenge to depot owners in bringing petrol from offshore line to the depots. He said in total, depot owners spent about $1.2 million to bring products from offshore to the depots.
He, however, called for total deregulation of the downstream sector of the oil and gas sector to create room for free market realities. He added that the huge amount of money being spent on subsidy could be used to improve the country’s economy. In his remarks, Mr Mike Osatuyi, IPMAN’s National Operations Controller, commended the depot owners for the courage to sell petrol at regulated price to marketers. Osatuyi said, “With this new price, have told my members that nobody should buy petrol above regulated price of N172 ex-depot; any depot that sells above the regulated price should be reported to the government.
He expressed worry over the sustainability of the supply to depot by government, adding it would be appreciated if it continued so as to ease scarcity. “Today we are flagging off the direct loading for IPMAN members, we appeal to government to ensure sustainability of the product to our members. Our members were over 85 per cent of depot owners’ customers and we appeal to the authority to give IPMAN members little time to sell remaining stocks in our stations. IPMAN members are at every nooks and crannies of Nigeria because all the 21 depots of government are not working,” he said. He urged the Federal Government to beef up products to Ijegun Egba satellite depot, adding that the depots were responsible for about 35 per cent of product distribution in Lagos. “Government, through NNPCL, needs to supply the system with petrol continuously to bridge the supply gap.
“Back to back supply and supply to tank farm owners in Ijegun Satellite town it needed to ease scarcity. IPMAN accounts for about 80 per cent customers across the country, this will ease supply and also create seamless operations,” he said. He added that since government had agreed to supply petrol directly to its members at N172 per litre, the association had also inaugurated a task force that would keep watch over members that might want to sell above the regulated pump price. “We have been complaining to government over the years to allocate petrol to IPMAN at regulated price because we have been buying at unofficial price. We are going to comply with government regulations on official pricing. We also urge government and depot owners to comply with official ex-depot price to marketers. We appeal to depot owners to put their house in other because we are going to report any depot who sell above regulated price of N172 per litre to IPMAN members,” Osatuyi added. Mr Ayo Cardoso, the Regional Coordinator, Southwest of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), said the authority had been monitoring the system from the vessel to the pump.
Cardoso said, “We have sufficient petrol in the system; l can assure you that in few days the scarcity will ease off. “As At today the inland depots have about 580 million litres, the offshore have about 690 million litres of petrol, which means that we have about 1.3 million litres of petrol. This shows that we have sufficient fuel in the country which translates to 52-day stock sufficiency. We have issues with distribution and it’s been addressed to ease supply. We are also visiting stations to monitor distribution in order to checkmate marketers,” he said. Mr Mohammed Koki, the General Manager, A.A Rano Terminals, said the company was expecting about 26 million litres of petrol today and it would be distributed within four days. Similarly, Mr Umar Aliyu, Terminal Manager, Menj Oil, also acknowledged receiving 26 million litres of petrol and had commenced 24 hours loading.
A new technology transfer agreement between the Nigeria–China Strategic Partnership (NCSP) and the Presidential Implementation Committee on Technology Transfer (PICTT) is expected to open more job opportunities, improve local skills, and expand access to advanced technology for ordinary Nigerians.
In a press statement reaching Vanguard on Friday, the MoU aims to strengthen industrial development, support local content, and create clearer pathways for Nigerians to benefit from China’s growing investments in the country.
PICTT Chairman, Dr Dahiru Mohammed, said the partnership will immediately begin coordinated programmes that support local participation in infrastructure and industrial projects.
Special Adviser to the President on Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr John Uwajumogu, said the deal will help attract high value investments that can stimulate job creation and strengthen Nigeria’s economy.
NCSP Head of International Relations, Ms Judy Melifonwu, highlighted that Nigerians stand to gain from expanded STEM scholarships, technical training, access to modern technology, and collaboration across key sectors including steel, agriculture, automobile parks, and cultural industries.
The NCSP Director-General reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to measurable results, noting that the partnership with PICTT will prioritise initiatives that deliver direct national impact.
The MoU signals a new phase of Nigeria–China cooperation focused on practical delivery, local content, and opportunities that improve everyday livelihoods.
EU regulators launched an antitrust investigation into Meta Platforms on Thursday over its rollout of artificial intelligence features in its WhatsApp messenger that would block rivals, hardening Europe’s already tough stance on Big Tech. The move, reported earlier by Reuters and the Financial Times, is the latest action by European Union regulators against large technology firms such as Amazon and Alphabet’s Google as the bloc seeks to balance support for the sector with efforts to curb its expanding influence.
Europe’s tough stance – a marked contrast to more lenient U.S. regulation – has sparked an industry pushback, particularly by U.S. tech titans, and led to criticism from the administration of U. S. President Donald Trump. The European Commission said that the investigation will look into Meta’s new policy that would limit other AI providers’ access to WhatsApp, a potential boost for its own Meta AI system integrated into the platform earlier this year.
EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said the move was to prevent dominant firms from “abusing their power to crowd out innovative competitors”. She added interim measures could be imposed to block Meta’s new WhatsApp AI policy rollout. “AI markets are booming in Europe and beyond,” she said. This is why we are investigating if Meta’s new policy might be illegal under competition rules, and whether we should act quickly to prevent any possible irreparable harm to competition in the AI space.”
A WhatsApp spokesperson called the claims “baseless”, adding that the emergence of chatbots on its platforms had put a “strain on our systems that they were not designed to support”, a reference to AI systems from other providers. “Still, the AI space is highly competitive and people have access to the services of their choice in any number of ways, including app stores, search engines, email services, partnership integrations, and operating systems.” The EU was the first in the world to establish a comprehensive legal framework for AI, setting out guardrails for AI systems and rules for certain high-risk applications in the AI Act.
Meta AI, a chatbot and virtual assistant, has been built into WhatsApp’s interface across European markets since March. The Commission said a new policy fully applicable from January 15, 2026, may block competing AI providers from reaching customers via the platform. Ribera said the probe came on the back of complaints from small AI developers about the WhatsApp policy. The Interaction Company of California, which has developed AI assistant Poke.com, has taken its grievance to the EU competition enforcer. Spanish AI startup Luzia has also talked to the Commission, a person with knowledge of the matter said.
Marvin von Hagen, co-founder and CEO of The Interaction Company of California, said if Meta was allowed to roll out its new policy, “millions of European consumers will be deprived of the possibility of enjoying new and innovative AI assistants”. Meta also risks a fine of as much as 10% of its global annual turnover if found guilty of breaching EU antitrust rules.
Italy’s antitrust watchdog opened a parallel investigation in July into allegations that Meta leveraged its market power by integrating an AI tool into WhatsApp, expanding the probe in November to examine whether Meta further abused its dominance by blocking rival AI chatbots from the messaging platform. The antitrust probe is a more traditional means of investigation than the EU’s Digital Markets Act, the bloc’s landmark legislation currently used to scrutinize Amazon’s and Microsoft’s cloud services for potential curbs. Reuters
The spouses and children of billionaires inherited more wealth in 2025 than in any previous year since reporting began in 2015, according to UBS’s Billionaire Ambitions Report published on Thursday. In the 12 months to April, 91 people became billionaires through inheritance, collectively receiving $298 billion, up more than a third from 2024, the Swiss bank said. “These heirs are proof of a multi-year wealth transfer that’s intensifying,” UBS executive Benjamin Cavalli said.
The report is based on a survey of some of UBS’s super-rich clients and a database that tracks the wealth of billionaires across 47 markets in all world regions. At least $5.9 trillion will be inherited by billionaire children over the next 15 years, the bank calculates.
Most of this inheritance growth is set to take place in the United States, with India, France, Germany and Switzerland next on the list, UBS estimated. However, billionaires are highly mobile, especially younger ones, which could change that picture, it added. The search for a better quality of life, geopolitical concerns and tax considerations are driving decisions to relocate, according to the report.
In Switzerland, where $206 billion will be inherited over the next 15 years according to the bank, voters on Sunday overwhelmingly rejected 50 per cent tax on inherited fortunes of $62 million or more, after critics said it could trigger an exodus of wealthy people.
Switzerland, the UAE, the U.S. and Singapore are among billionaires’ preferred destinations, UBS’s Cavalli said. “In Switzerland, Sunday’s vote may have helped to increase the country’s appeal again,” he said. Reuters
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