Business Page Writer
By Nonso Agbodi
Nigeria’s largest private oil facility, the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, has announced an immediate suspension of petrol sales in the local currency, sparking fresh anxiety among fuel marketers and motorists about possible price hikes and renewed pressure on the country’s foreign exchange market.
In a notice circulated to its customers at 6:42 p.m. on Friday, September 26, and titled “Suspension of DPRP PMS Naira Sales – Effective 28th September 2025,” the refinery said it would stop accepting naira for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) purchases from Sunday, September 28.
According to the memo signed by the Group Commercial Operations department, the decision stems from the exhaustion of the refinery’s “crude-for-naira” allocation — a swap mechanism that had previously allowed Dangote to sell refined products in Nigeria’s local currency.
“We have been selling petroleum products beyond our naira-crude allocations and can no longer sustain PMS sales in naira going forward,” the statement read, urging customers with pending naira-based transactions to apply for refunds.
This is not the first time the plant has taken such a step. In March 2025, the refinery also paused naira-denominated fuel sales, a move that contributed to petrol prices approaching ₦1,000 per litre in some regions and intensified debate over the “dollarisation” of Nigeria’s downstream sector.
Analysts warn that the latest suspension could again force marketers to source dollars to pay for petrol, pushing up costs at the pump and adding to the strain on Nigeria’s already fragile foreign reserves.
Commissioned as a flagship project of Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, the refinery was hailed as a potential game-changer for Nigeria’s energy supply, expected to reduce imports and stabilise prices. Yet repeated disruptions linked to allocation formulas and pricing have unsettled expectations about its stabilising role.
As of Saturday, it remained unclear how long the suspension would last or whether the federal government would intervene with new arrangements to restore naira sales. For now, fuel marketers and consumers alike are bracing for a new round of uncertainty at petrol stations across the country.
