BY CHIKA OKEKE, Abuja
The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, CPPE, has pushed for coordinated and reliable crude-supply deals for domestic refineries, recommending that the Federal Consumer Protection and Competition Commission, FCPCC, should strengthen its oversight to curb monopolistic pricing and abuse of dominant market power.
Chief Executive Officer of the CPPE, Dr Muda Yusuf said on Monday, that Nigeria’s downstream policy must shift decisively from managing import dependence to building a competitive domestic refining ecosystem.
CPPE is a non-governmental organisation that focuses on the promotion, protection and advancement of private enterprise while creating a conducive environment for the private sector to grow.
Yusuf said: “Allowing imports without a transparent, verified shortfall would squander a historic opportunity to conserve foreign exchange, create jobs, deepen industrial linkages and strengthen energy security.”
He listed foreign-exchange conservation, job creation, industrialisation, energy security, investment confidence and fiscal resilience as the major national interests at risk, warning that imports transfer increases the risks abroad.
The CPPE cautioned that uncertainty around import policy could discourage investment in the refining sector, adding that: “If investors believe permits will admit imports irrespective of verified domestic availability, expected refinery utilisation and cash flow become less bankable.”
To resolve the issues, the CPPE encouraged the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, to publish a product-by-product supply-gap determination before approving significant import volumes, give domestic refiners a fair opportunity to meet verified demand, and restrict import permits to a quantified residual gap with a defined validity period.
The centre sought monthly disclosure of permit, landing and domestic-evacuation data, as well as a systematic and rule-based regulation that makes competition fair, protects consumers and supports domestic productive capacity.
Nigeria’s downstream petroleum market had reached an important transition point, as large-scale private refining had significantly reduced the structural justification for import dependence.
Regulatory data showed that average daily imports of Premium Motor Spirit, commonly known as petrol, rose from 5.9 million litres in May to 18.1 million litres in June 2026, representing a 206.8 per cent increase, before climbing further to 19.7 million litres in July.
But imports accounted for 43.3 per cent of total PMS receipts in July, up from 12.4 per cent in May, according to figures obtained from the NMDPRA.
The CPPE hinted that import surge coincided with clear evidence of strong domestic refining capability, adding that the Dangote Refinery reported a test run above 700,000 barrels per day in June, while the NMDPRA had recorded domestic refineries operating at an average capacity utilisation of 99.12 per cent in April.
Yusuf lamented that approving import permits without a transparent demonstration is the reason that domestic refiners cannot meet the relevant demand at acceptable standards and competitive market terms.
This, he attributed to the Petroleum Industry Act, adding that Sections 317(8) to (9) of the Act tied petroleum-product import licensing to the existence of a domestic supply shortfall.
“Regulatory discretion should therefore be exercised transparently, predictably and consistently with the country’s domestic-refining and industrialisation objectives,” he added.
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