Business
Why Matrix Energy Should Stop Dancing Naked* By David Tunde
*Why Matrix Energy Should Stop Dancing Naked*
By David Tunde
In a flagrant and audacious exhibition of corporate greed and regulatory failure, Matrix Energy Limited, a prominent player in Nigeria’s petroleum industry, led by CEO Abdulkadir Adisa Aliu, has become embroiled in a scandal of monumental proportions involving the importation of subpar fuel products. This disturbing revelation, compounded by the company’s alleged complicity in illicit activities, raises grave concerns regarding the integrity of the Nigerian fuel supply chain and the potential perils to public health and safety.
Through the deliberate importation of blended low-grade petroleum products, which are subsequently sold as high-quality fuel, Matrix Energy is not only jeopardizing lives but also subverts the country’s economic governance framework. Abdulkadir Adisa Aliu, a member of the esteemed Presidential Economic Coordination Council (PEEC), is exploiting his position of influence and proximity to powerful and corrupt individuals in the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) , and The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited to perpetuate these nefarious activities with unbridled impunity.
Matrix Energy’s operations have been irrefutably linked to Malta, a preeminent European hub for the clandestine blending and ship-to-ship (STS) transfers of sanctioned Russian oil and petroleum products. A staggering 35% of shipments arriving in Malta comprise naphtha and other components, which are subsequently blended into petrol to produce “African Spec” products. These products are then transshipped into various vessels for ultimate delivery into Nigeria, perpetuating a complex web of clandestine transactions.
Further investigation reveals that the products from Malta are transported through a labyrinthine network of intermediate ships and companies, including Poly Pro Trading in Dubai. Notably, the listed office of Poly Pro Trading is merely a business center devoid of any physical presence, thereby obfuscating the trail of accountability. This is further complicated by the forgery of paper works and the representation of non-existent companies, which serve as a conduit for these surreptitious transactions and movements.
The fact that Malta, a country devoid of any known oil refineries, has emerged as the top European destination for blending and ship-to-ship transfers of sanctioned Russian oil and petroleum products is a damning indictment of the lack of regulation and oversight in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector. The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has demonstrably failed in its duty to regulate fuel quality, thereby enabling international commodity traders and Nigerian marketers to exploit this regulatory vacuum and import low-quality fuels with impunity.
Regrettably, the presence of unpatriotic individuals such as Adisa Aliu, Farouk Ahmed, Mele Kyari, and their cohorts in positions of decision-making ensures the perpetuation of the rot in our oil and gas sector, which will continue to thrive on a “balanced diet” of corruption and malfeasance. These are people that are ready to run our economy aground with unbridled greed, bigotry, nepotism, and illegalization of Institutional corruption from one catastrophic selfish agenda to the other, under the guise of improving the Oil and gas sector.
It is intriguing to ponder the rationale behind the selection of Russia and Malta as key players in this illicit operation. However, it is hardly surprising, given that these regions, being under international sanctions, lack stringent measures to curb illegal activities, thereby becoming a haven for corrupt individuals worldwide to converge and indulge in nefarious pursuits for their selfish interests.
The fact that Russia was expelled from the SWIFT global banking framework, comprising nearly 12,000 banks, renders any oil and gas transactions between Nigerian companies and Russian refineries illicit, as Russian banks are unable to open letters of credit for exports. This exposes Nigeria to diplomatic crises that could further compound all that we are going through. Consequently, it is no wonder that Malta has emerged as the premier European destination for blending and ship-to-ship (STS) transfers of sanctioned Russian oil and petroleum products, following the Greek navy’s decision to prohibit such activities in their offshore zone.
Notably, diesel from Russia is notoriously off-spec, and diesels from Matrix filling stations have failed the ASTM D4294 test method, which provides a rapid and precise measurement of total sulfur in petroleum and petroleum products with minimal sample preparation. This egregious situation has led to Matrix Energy peddling flammable diesel with toxic fumes to unsuspecting Nigerians, while reaping enormous profits.
The sheer magnitude of Matrix Energy’s operations is staggering, with over 200,000 tons of gasoline products from Malta allegedly discharged into a Jetty owned by Matrix Energy in July 2024. This represents a staggering 25 percent of Nigeria’s monthly PMS consumption, channeled to a relatively small player with a mere 150 retail stations, highlighting the vast scope of this illicit operation.
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) is undoubtedly complicit in the importation of substandard diesel and jet fuel into the country, thereby fueling concerns regarding the quality of products utilized in Nigeria. It is a travesty that Africa’s largest oil-producing nation has been importing inferior petroleum products from Malta, a country devoid of any known oil refineries. The evidence of this egregious act is ubiquitous and glaringly apparent to the federal government, unless they choose to willfully ignore it, even without conducting a thorough investigation into the operations of Adisa Aliu and Matrix Energy.
A cursory examination of the cargo trails, the non-existent Dubai business location, and the Malta-Russia adulterated imported fuel, would reveal the extent of this malfeasance. Furthermore, an investigation into the quality of fuel being dispensed at Matrix Filling stations would provide additional evidence of the nefarious activities. If these investigations are thoroughly conducted, the evil nature of Abdulkadir Adisa Aliu’s actions will be laid bare for all to see. His genocidal actions, posing a significant health hazard to Nigerian citizens, increasing the potential mortality rate due to accidents caused by adulterated fuel, and dilapidating the economy for selfish gains, will be exposed.
Matrix Energy’s recent maneuver to seek judicial protection and restrain media houses and other entities from further publishing revelatory stories about its oil shipping business is a farcical spectacle that ranks as one of the most absurd jokes of the century. This attempt to stifle the dissemination of incriminating information constitutes a blatant assault on the sacrosanct right to free expression, a fundamental tenet of democratic societies. By seeking to muzzle the media and suppress the truth, Matrix Energy is attempting to circumvent accountability and perpetuate its nefarious activities, thereby undermining the very fabric of transparency and public discourse.
Aliu’s “dance of shame” must be met with severe consequences. The shame and disdain brought upon Nigeria must be addressed forthwith. Nigeria must not be perceived as a country of fools. We are aware of the situation, and the President must take decisive action to address this madness. The weakness in regulating fuel quality poses a grave health risk to Nigerians. International commodity traders and Nigerian marketers are exploiting this regulatory vacuum to import low-quality fuels. This is grounds for the President to immediately sanction the regulators responsible for policing the midstream and downstream sector and take action concerning the leadership of the Oil and Gas sector in Nigeria.
It is hardly astonishing that Matrix Energy would resort to extreme measures to protect and shield certain influential benefactors, whose identities and interests remain shrouded in secrecy. The primary motivation behind their decision to institute this lawsuit is to insulate and shield their accomplices within the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and other members of their clandestine cabal from the scrutiny of the media. By doing so, Matrix Energy seeks to conceal the complicity of these individuals and entities in their illicit activities, thereby perpetuating a culture of impunity and shielding them from accountability. This desperate attempt to gag the media and suppress the truth is another evidence to the company’s desperation to maintain the veil of secrecy surrounding their nefarious operations and protect their cohorts from exposure. This audacious move is an affront to the principles of openness and accountability, and it is imperative that it be vehemently resisted to safeguard the integrity of free expression and the public’s right to know.
To effectively mitigate this crisis, the Nigerian government must adopt a resolute and proactive stance. The leadership of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) must be held accountable for their failure to safeguard the interests of Nigerian consumers. Furthermore, the government should undertake a comprehensive overhaul of the regulatory framework governing the importation and distribution of petroleum products to prevent future recurrences of this nature.
Moreover, a thorough investigation into Matrix Energy Limited , and their Cabal’s involvement in illicit activities, including the importation of sanctioned Russian oil, is imperative. If found culpable, the company should face severe penalties, including the revocation of its operating license. It is imperative that Matrix Energy ceases its egregious activities and is held accountable for its actions. The Nigerian people deserve a safe, reliable, and uninterrupted fuel supply, and it is the government’s responsibility to ensure that this is achieved.
The issue at hand extends beyond the mere importation of substandard fuel; it encompasses a complex web of illicit activities, including the importation of sanctioned products, falsification of documents to facilitate smooth operations, and the deliberate alteration of product origin. It is high time that Matrix Energy assumes responsibility for its actions and ceases its exploitative practices.
Nigerians deserve better and demand immediate action from the President to sanction the regulators responsible and address the leadership of the Oil and Gas sector in Nigeria. Matrix Energy’s exploitation of Nigeria’s fuel market and the manipulation of our Judiciary must be halted, and those responsible must be held accountable. The citizens of Nigeria will no longer tolerate being treated as guinea pigs for corporate greed and regulatory failure.
Tunde is an oil and gas expert writing from Dundee, United Kingdom.
NNPCL and Corruption’s Final Throes
By Pius Olasanmi
In the twilight of the Obasanjo administration, when Nigerians were still capable of being outraged, when Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of refineries was a buzzword that still held some mysticism to bamboozle citizens, during a conversation, a certain man said something profound. The man said, “As a businessman, if I were the owner of these refineries, knowing that they are three decades old, I would take the last money I have, hire bulldozers, raze them to the ground, and obtain loans to build new ones.”
When we pressed him further on why he would engage in such waste, he explained that repairing the refineries is the real waste. He explained that even if the TAM were honestly carried out, a thirty-year-old refinery would never compete favourably with a new one that would integrate contemporary technology. Operating at its best, such a refinery would never be comparatively more efficient. It is therefore pointless to have spent another one naira on the refineries at that point.
A few months later, I had a conversation with a then-lawmaker on an entirely different matter. I mentioned that the National Assembly has failed by not crafting legislation that would criminalise and punish public office holders who foist wrong decisions on the country. The logic: a public office holder need not steal to be punished, wrong decisions should attract penalties for an office holder who opts for the worst of all options when there are less injurious ones.
These established premises speak to the ongoing nauseating efforts at revisionism by those who wrecked the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and its previous iteration, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Notably, this campaign to rewrite history is traceable to Engineer Mele Kolo Kyari, the disgraced immediate past Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL and his hirelings. They have suffocated the news and the public opinion space with even more lies than they spun while in office.
The Saint Kyari campaign is anchored on convincing Nigerians that the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna Refineries were fully functional when he was booted out of office. So brazen is the campaign that one of its talking heads challenged the group chief executive officer (GCEO), Engr. Bayo Ojulari, to “inform Nigerians categorically what happened to the functioning refineries he inherited from his predecessor, Engr. Mele Kyari.” The effrontery.
We have not forgotten so soon the charade that followed the baffling claim that Nigeria has spent $2.8 billion on the repair of the refineries, while they are not churning out even a single litre of refined product among them. Saint Kyari and his goons played all manner of tricks, all of which embarrassed President Bola Tinubu, who had counted on ticking off the return to productivity of the refineries as part of his achievements, only to realise that he was deceived into celebrating phantoms. Tragic.
Lest we forget, 200 trucks were arranged as props in a well-directed video clip to celebrate the re-streaming of the Port Harcourt Refinery. The disappointment. Nigerians were to learn from several reports that the Port Harcourt refinery was not producing and was instead using old, stored petroleum products to load trucks. Worse still, the Kyari crew was passing off sanction-tainted Russian-sourced crude oil refined in Malta as locally refined products. More insult was piled on the assault on our collective sensibility with the lies that the Port Harcourt Refinery exported semi-finished products. Brazen.
Meanwhile, Kyari and his hirelings called those who pointed out or protested these glaring scams all manner of names. They hid behind industry technicalities and jargon to create the impression that those of us who knew Nigerians were being robbed did not understand what we were saying. The point remains that a $2.8 billion investment can potentially build a refinery with a capacity of around 100,000 barrels per day (bpd). Of course, the actual capacity of such a refinery will depend on various factors, including the complexity of the refinery, the technology used, and the location. That is the amount that Kyari’s regime at the NNPCL took and did not give Nigerians refined products.
Fast forward to Kyari’s sack and the appointment of Engineer Bayo Ojulari, who has demonstrated that things can indeed be done differently. Kyari’s exit was expectedly followed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) going after him and his associates. The extent of the theft is better understood against the backdrop of N80 billion being found in the bank account of one of his associates. They went on the run.
Perhaps because the EFCC was biding its time on securing international warrants for the arrests of these characters on the lam, they have become emboldened. They have decided to fight back and rewrite the story of their participation in the greatest fraud against Nigerians. Engineer Ojulari’s renewed mindset, which is entrenching a semblance of the transparency Nigerians demand, became their natural target. The demons that once roamed around the corporation came out with malevolence. They started spinning stories of corruption to tarnish the incumbent who refused to hide their crimes. The objective: bring Ojulari down. But alas, he is winning the war as it stands.
His innocence is proven, and it is glaring that those who want him out are mere charlatans who can no longer ply their corrupt wares because of the impact of the new reforms. Corruption in the NNPCL is in its final throes. The fake news being unleashed against the incumbent leadership is akin to corruption’s last kicks as reforms in the sector strangulate it and its practitioners. The reforms must take place in the NNPCL, whether the industry demons like it or not.
As a parting shot, Kyari and his associates would do well to prepare their defence. In addition to accounting for the $2.8 billion they laundered in the name of repairing the moribund refineries, they must also answer for the poor decision to fix that which is irretrievably broken. Awarding contracts for Turn Around Maintenance of 59-year-old refineries that a right-thinking person had suggested should be demolished almost twenty years ago, when they were only 30 years old, is criminal. Trying to deceive Nigerians that the fake repairs worked is treason.
Olasanmi is a public affairs analyst writing from Lagos.
GRANDIS 5STAR LUXURY APARTMENT & SUITES SET TO REDEFINE LIVING IN VICTORIA ISLAND
Set to Rise elegantly against the Lagos skyline, is the Grandis 5Star Luxury Apartment & Suites. According to Adejuwon Ademola, The General Manager of the Development company, it is more than just a residential building
“it’s a lifestyle statement. Standing 17 floors high in the heart of Victoria Island, this revolutionary masterpiece of modern architecture will offer a panoramic 360° view of Eko Atlantic, Victoria Island, and Ikoyi, transforming every apartment into an exclusive penthouse experience for the world’s most discerning elite.”
Developed by Dumarco Construction Limited, a globally acclaimed company with decades of delivering complex, high-value projects in the highly regulated petroleum, oil, and gas industries, Grandis 5Star brings unmatched international safety standards, uncompromising quality, and timeless elegance into Nigeria’s luxury property market.
> “When you live in Grandis, you’re not just buying a home—you’re investing in peace of mind, world-class safety, and an effortless luxury experience that will remain pristine for decades,” says Adejuwon A. Ademola, General Manager of Dumarco Construction Limited.
The Gold Standard in Safety and Quality
Dumarco’s roots in the oil and gas sector mean the company operates to some of the strictest safety protocols in the world. Every stage—from conceptualization, design, construction, to long-term maintenance—follows internationally accepted procedures and quality assurance measures. Cutting corners is simply not in Dumarco’s vocabulary.
> “In the oil and gas industry, there’s no room for compromise. We’ve brought that same discipline and zero-tolerance for mediocrity into property development,” says Ademola. “That’s why Grandis will be one of the safest and most enduring residential developments in Nigeria.”
To ensure transparency and prevent (project complacency), Dumarco deliberately separates the developer, contractor, and consultant roles, engaging only the most competent professionals in each respective field. Dumarco’s project team includes globally recognized contractors such as Julius Berger, Cappa & D’Alberto, and Elalan, Migliore Construczione & Tecniche (MC&T) and their partners VENCO IMTIAZ CONTRACTING COMPANY (VICC) based in Dubai, UAE, Business Contracting Limited, alongside leading consultants like Morgan Omanitan & Abe, LAMBERT, and James Cubitt.
Grandis – Investments, appreciation, returns and profitability
Our selection process for the location of the project alone was pains-taking and completely thorough scientific process. Top professional companies were employed to conduct a scientific data acquisition and analytical survey of the entire Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lekki and Eko Atlantic before a project site is selected. Analyzing and acquiring areas developmental charts and trends, studying and gathering historical and present sale prices, rental charge and occupancy rates over a 50 year period from every individual street before the selection of the location of any of our developments especially true for the Grandis Project
He adds,
“Our clients and residents can be rest assured that the location of Grandis has been scientifically proven through all existing data to provide our clients with a 100% occupancy rate, highest developmental location, highest rental income and investment returns. ”
The Grandis Experience
Located minutes away from international corporate headquarters, embassies, and landmarks such as Eko Hotel, Radisson Blu, and the Radisson Red, Grandis offers unmatched convenience for professionals, diplomats, and high-net-worth individuals. Every residence is designed for both indulgence and efficiency, with high-grade finishes, smart-home systems, and private amenities that ensure seamless living.
From sunrise over the Atlantic to the glittering Lagos night skyline, residents will enjoy uninterrupted luxury, supported by discreet and highly trained staff, advanced security systems, and a design that prioritizes comfort and privacy.
> “We designed Grandis for people who want everything—security, elegance, convenience, and the assurance that their home will look as spectacular in 20 years as it does on day one,” Ademola notes.
A Legacy That Lasts
With its combination of visionary architecture, peerless safety, and meticulous maintenance planning, Grandis is built to remain iconic for generations. Thanks to Dumarco’s meticulous approach, the building’s service charges are expected to remain low while its value and appeal continue to appreciate over time.
In a market often marred by shortcuts and substandard practices, Mr Ademola says
Grandis stands as a beacon of what luxury living should be—safe, spectacular, and built to last.
“Grandis 5Star Luxury Apartment & Suites — Where safety meets sophistication, and every detail is designed for a life well-lived.”
He added
Website -www.dumarcoltd.com
Project website – www.26idowutaylor.com
Email [email protected]
Tel / WhatsApp +234 9077777883
GM – Adejuwon A. Ademola
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