While many African countries have stopped the importation of high-sulphur fuel, Nigeria is still dragging its feet on the implementation of its ban on dirty fuel imports. More than one and a half years after the Federal Government banned the importation of dirty fuels into the country, industry players and other stakeholders are still awaiting the enforcement of the ban.

It was gathered that a report had been submitted to the Federal Government by a committee that included the Department of Petroleum Resources, Standards Organisation of Nigeria, and the Ministry of Environment regarding the plan to shift to low-sulphur fuels. Most of the petroleum products consumed in the country are imported with sulphur content as high as 1,000 parts per million for petrol and 3,000ppm for diesel.

On December 1, 2016 in Abuja, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire agreed to ban the importation of Europe’s dirty fuels, limiting sulphur in fuels from 3,000 parts per million to 50 ppm. But the enforcement of the ban failed to come into effect on July 1, 2017 in Nigeria as announced in December 2016 by the then Minister of Environment, Mrs Amina Mohammed.

Source: The Punch

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