Library / IN THE FEDERAL HIGH COURT OF NIGERIA [N THE ABUJA JUDICIAL DIVISION HOLDEN AT ABUJA ON MONDAY, THE 5™ DAY OF FEBRUARY, 2024

IN THE FEDERAL HIGH COURT OF NIGERIA [N THE ABUJA JUDICIAL DIVISION HOLDEN AT ABUJA ON MONDAY, THE 5™ DAY OF FEBRUARY, 2024

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Plaintiffs were liable to pay two levies, Authority Fund Levy and MDGI Fund Levy, 
pursuant to the PIA 2021, It is the Plaintiffs’ contention that they are not liable 
to the levies since they only use AGO for their Operations and not for sale and 
as such do not have an ex-depot price to indicate on the loading programme. 
After a meeting with the Defendant, the Plaintiffs wrote a letter to the Defendant 
stating their landing cost, storage cost and restating that they are not liable to 
pay 
levies. 
The Deféndant 
has 
now made 
new demands 
to 
include 
the 
destination of all trucks in their landing programme as well as the contracts they 
have with users of their BTS. The Plaintiffs in compliance with the decision of the 
Court have now issued and served pre-action notice on the Defendant (Exh. IHS 
14). On 26" July, 2023, the Defendant served demand notices on 1% and 2d 
Plaintiffs, respectively, to remit to the Authority (1%) and MDGI Fund (0.5%) 
Levies (Exhs. IHS 15 and IHS 16), Again, the Defendant issued another demand 
notice to the 2" Plaintiff, while a debit note was issued to the 1* Plaintiff on 6t 
October, 2023 (Exhs. IHS 17 and IHS 18). Then, on 26" September, 2023, the 
Defendant wrote reminder letters to the 1* and 2"4 Plaintiffs, respectively (Exhs. 
THS 19 and IHS 20). 
In order to ensure the uninterrupted conduct of their 
business operations, the Plaintiffs were compelled to remit part of the statutory 
levies demanded by the Defendant (Exhs, IHS 21 and HIS 22). Simply put, the 
Plaintiffs’ contention is that they are not liable to the demands by the Defendant 
in Exh. THS 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22, 
The Defendant says that both Plaintiffs hold import permits only applicable 
to midstream operations, while the 2" Plaintif holds a petroleum depot license, 
The words, ‘permit’ and ‘licence’ are used interchangeably and mean the same 
thing and so, holders of im port permits are licensed to im port petroleum products 
and are wholesale petroleum liquids Suppliers by the tenor of the Act. The 
JUDGEMENT IN JAS (NIGERIA) LTD, & ANOR. v, THE NIG. MIDSTREAM & OOWNSTREAM PETROLEUM REGU 
¥ 
SUIT NO; FHC/ABI/CS/1480/2023 
ATORY AUTHOBETY