Dangote Petroleum Refinery has added four more states to its free petrol delivery scheme. Kano, Imo, Anambra and Nasarawa now join Lagos, Ogun, Rivers, Kaduna, Abuja and Delta, bringing the total to ten states.
Petrol under the scheme would sell for ₦1,165 per litre, and marketers who qualify get ten days' credit before payment is due. The catch is that you need to buy at least 250,000 litres at once. The refinery says the offer is open to any marketer who meets that requirement, not a select few.
For anyone who has watched Nigeria's fuel market over the years, the free delivery matters more than the price does. It's the cost of moving fuel from the depot to the filling station that has always pushed prices up the further you get from Lagos. Kano, Anambra, Imo and Nasarawa are exactly the kind of states where that cost has bitten hardest, so taking it off the table there is a real move.
It's also worth remembering this isn't happening in isolation. Dangote's ex-depot price has gone up and down in recent months, somewhere between ₦1,075 and ₦1,215, while talks with marketers over fair pricing continue in the background. This latest step comes right in the middle of those talks, not after them.
The ten-day credit is arguably the bigger deal here. It means a marketer can sell the product first and pay later, instead of scrambling to raise prices just to cover cash tied up in stock still on the road. Combine that with free delivery, and two of the usual excuses for high pump prices fall away.
Whether ordinary Nigerians actually see cheaper petrol because of this is another matter entirely. That decision sits with the marketers, not with Dangote. The refinery has done its part by cutting delivery cost and easing payment terms; what happens at the pump is down to each marketer.
Marketers in the four new states can reach the refinery the same way marketers in the first six already do: +234 707 470 2099, +234 707 470 2100, or Directdelivery@dangote.com. The company says more states will be added as the rollout continues, so this is unlikely to be the last update.