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We won’t fix petrol prices again – NMDPRA

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Faruk Ahmad

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) says it will no longer fix prices or release templates for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).

Authority Chief Executive (ACE), Mr Farouk Ahmed, who said this at a news conference in Abuja on Friday, said that market forces would henceforth dictate prices under the liberalised market.

“As far as we are concerned in the NMDPRA, this is not like before when the PPPRA fixes the price; in a deregulated market, it is the market force that dictates the price,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the development was sequel to the removal of subsidy on PMS known as petrol.

President Bola Tinubu had in his inaugural speech on Monday said fuel subsidy regime had ended with the commencement of his administration.

Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery Will Transform our Downstream Sector, Says Ghana Petroleum Authority

Ahmed, however, said the market was now open for everybody that would import as far as they met all the requirements.

“So, it is not about the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) alone.

“We put the regulation in place, we make sure quality control is complied with, we make sure the product is there and we give licence to prospective importer.

“We make sure we guide the operations of everyone in the sector whether at the depot or wherever the product is but we will not put a cap to say this is what the price must be,” he said.

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According to Ahmed, the role of the NNPC is to fix prices of the petrol it imported and not take over the responsibilities of the Authority.

“In the case of the NNPC, the organisation is the sole importer at this point. We told the NNPC to recover its costs because they know how much it cost them to import the product and sell it.

“Of course, we also know how much shipping, offshore, ex-depot and ex-pump are. But we cannot tell them to sell at a price because the market is deregulated,” he added.

The NMDPRA boss also disclosed that the Federal Government has officially scrapped petroleum equalisation as well as the national transport allowance.

He said the NMDPRA, the federal government and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) would mount aggressive monitoring of activities in the downstream sector to prevent profiteering by petroleum marketers.

Ahmed further disclosed that marketers are now free to source their foreign exchange anywhere around the world to import petroleum products and recover their costs without impediments.

On where the importers will source their forex from, Ahmed said the CBN would not give dollar to anyone because of open market, adding that anyone willing to import should get the dollars from anywhere to import.

According to him, anyone willing to open a letter of credit from any part of the world can do that to import.

“That marketers can source their forex from anywhere is the beauty of the liberalised market that the NMDPRA has introduced based on the provision of the law”.

Ahmed said that the market would henceforth be modulated to allow the fluidity of prices, adding that though no template spelt out the pricing components of petrol price.

He said that, “based on this, the price would no longer be static rather depend on the international price of the gasoline market.

“This did not imply that marketers could sell at any price”.

According to him, the NMDPRA and FCCPC will collaborate to curb excesses if certain prices were way above the expected profit margin.

“The market structure will dictate the price swings at every point in time,” he said.

Ahmed cautioned against optimism for cheap petroleum products, saying products may not be cheaper because the company would be buying crude oil at the international price.

“Dangote Refinery is a game changer in terms of accessibility. By the time the NNPC refineries and other modular refineries across the country come on stream, Nigeria will be a net exporter of petroleum products,” he said. (NAN

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President Tinubu Counters Police Academy in Kano, Establishes New Campus in Ogun

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President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the establishment of a new campus of the Police Academy in Erinja, Yewa South Local Government Area in Ogun State.

A statement by Bayo Onanuga
Special Adviser to the President,
Information & Strategy, says President Tinubu also approved a special take-off grant of N15billion for the college.

The President’s approval was in fulfilment of the provisions of the Nigeria Police Academy (Establishment) Act, 2021, particularly with respect to the expansion of the Police Academy based in Wudil, Kano state, into multiple campuses across the country.

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The intervention fund will be sourced from the TetFund 2026 allocation to finance priority infrastructure, academic facilities, student accommodation, and core training assets.

A high-level consultative meeting involving the Minister of Police Affairs, the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, officials of the Federal Ministry of Education, the Inspector-General of Police and the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC) recommended the siting of the new campus in Erinja.

The meeting considered student intake capacity, funding realities, academic quality assurance, and the long-term needs of the Nigerian Police Force, which is currently recruiting more men.

President Tinubu believes the expansion will strengthen institutional governance, modern policing education and national security.

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Retired Police Storm Villa Gate, Call Contributory Pension Scheme a ‘Killer Disease’

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By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

Retired police personnel and their families, under the umbrella of the Police Retired Officers Forum of Nigeria, on Monday blocked one of the gates of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, in protest.

The retirees are demanding the removal of the Nigeria Police Force from the Contributory Pension Scheme, which they described as “fraudulent, illegal, inhumane and obnoxious.”

Protesters carried placards reading “End CPS,” “If military, DSS were removed from PENCOM, why not police?” while many were chanting, “Police dey work, PenCom dey chop.”

They said the protest was aimed at urging President Bola Tinubu to assent to the Police Exit Bill passed by the National Assembly on December 4, 2025, and transmitted to the Presidency on March 16, 2026.

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According to them, the bill, if signed into law, would exempt police personnel from what they called a “slavery and untimely death-inducing pension scheme.”

Speaking in a video of the protest posted by Channels Television, a retired ASP, Nurudeen Dahiru, said, “We are not begging anybody. We have come to fight for our rights. We have suffered.

“We are not here to fight anybody. We are just here to demand for our rights. We have served for 35 years.

“According to the Constitution of the country, when you serve your country for 35 years, you should go home and rest. But see us suffering now. We are not able to take care of our children.

“We have no food to eat. We are dying. Silent killing. So this contributory pension scheme is a killer disease. 35 years is not easy. We are not here to fight anybody.”

Another retired officer said, “We don’t have anything to train them. As I retired 20 years ago, how much are they paying me?

“It is 24,000 that I am paying you because I retired with the inspector. So they have to sign our bill and give us all our money.

“So that somebody can use it for something. You can buy a house. And then now we don’t have a house.

“How can an ASP, a DSP, a CP retire and they are paying him how much? No, no, no. Enough is enough. It is a do or die. Even if some people are killed today, others are coming.”

Speaking to reporters, the National Coordinator of the Police Retired Officers Forum of Nigeria, CSP Raphael Irowainu (retd), who led the protest, said the group was at the Villa to press for the President’s assent to the bill exiting the police from the CPS.

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Court Admits Nine Exhibits Against Malami and Family

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By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

A Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja and presided over by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik on Monday, April 20, 2026 admitted nine exhibits against a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, alongside his wife, Hajia Bashir Asabe, and his son, Abubakar Abdulaziz Malami.

The exhibits were presented before the court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in its ongoing trial of the former Minister and some family members.

The EFCC is prosecuting the defendants on an amended 16-count charge bordering on conspiracy, procuring, disguising, concealing and laundering proceeds of unlawful activities to the tune of N8,713,923,759.49 (Eight Billion, Seven Hundred and Thirteen Million, Nine Hundred and Twenty-Three Thousand, Seven Hundred and Fifty-Nine Naira, Forty-Nine Kobo), contrary to the provisions of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

The exhibits, which are documentary in nature, were tendered through the fourth prosecution witness, Mashelia Arhyel Bata, a compliance officer with Zenith Bank Plc.

Led in evidence by prosecution counsel, J. S. Okutepa, SAN, the witness told the court that, in the course of his official duties, he received correspondence from the EFCC requesting documents relating to several accounts linked to the defendants and associated entities.

“I work as a compliance officer with Zenith Bank, Maitama branch. My duty includes receiving correspondence from law enforcement agencies and responding accordingly,” he said.

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Bata further disclosed that the bank complied with EFCC’s requests by providing both soft and hard copies of documents relating to accounts belonging to the defendants and companies such as Rayhaan Hotels Limited, Rayhaan Bustan Agro Allied Limited, Nashab Limited, Golden Age Global Ventures, and Rahamaniyya Properties Limited.

“My lord, the documents are nine,” he stated, confirming his ability to identify them when presented in court.

Upon application by Okutepa, the court admitted the documents, dated between July 19, 2024 and March 12, 2026, as Exhibits D1 to D9, despite an initial objection by defence counsel, J. B. Daudu, SAN, who noted that “the dates are almost all in March.”

Continuing his testimony under further examination by prosecution counsel, Ekele Iheanacho, SAN, the witness provided details of transactions contained in the exhibits.

He identified Exhibit D1 as containing account opening documents and statements for accounts belonging to Abubakar Malami and A.A. Malami & Co, including a naira account and a dollar account.

According to him, the statement of account for one of the accounts covered the period from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2023.

The witness confirmed that the accounts were active between 2015 and 2023, noting that “there were transfers within that period.”

He further revealed that total credits into one of the accounts stood at N383,637,21.55 between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2023, while total credits from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2015 amounted to N560,506,465.12.

On debits, he stated that N384,322,120.85 was recorded between 2016 and 2023, while N571,891,174.08 was debited between 2012 and 2015.

Giving further breakdown of transactions, the witness told the court that on November 11, 2020, the account received N194,791,608.00 from New Horizons Limited, and on June 24, 2022, it received N622,500,000.00 from Rayhaan Bustan Agro Allied Limited.

He added that on July 1 and July 7, 2022, the account received N250 million each from Rayhaan Hotels Limited, while on December 22, 2022, there was an inflow of N500 million linked to Rayhaan Bustan Agro Allied Limited.

Continuing in that format, the witness identified so many transactions running into billions.

Following the testimony, the defence counsel, J.B Daudu SAN sought an adjournment to enable him study the exhibits and prepare for cross-examination.

“My lord, we need time to go through the nine exhibits tendered,” Daudu said.

Justice Abdulmalik subsequently adjourned the matter till May 13, 2026, for continuation of trial.

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