The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has warned that the Federal Government’s suspension of the 15 per cent import duty on petrol and diesel poses a significant threat to Nigeria’s domestic refining capacity, energy security, and long-term industrial development.
In a policy brief released by Muda Yusuf, its Chief Executive Officer, the Centre cautioned that the decision could undermine billions of dollars in private sector investments, particularly the Dangote Refinery and several modular refinery projects whose business models were built on the assurance of a stable and protective policy environment.
Yusuf stressed that the suspended duty was a critical industrial protection measure crafted to support emerging refineries, promote backward integration, conserve foreign exchange, protect jobs, and create a level playing field for local producers operating under difficult conditions.
He noted that domestic refiners face a structurally high-cost environment marked by expensive energy, logistics bottlenecks, poor infrastructure, high capital costs, and security-related risks, disadvantages that foreign refiners and importers do not share.
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Removing the duty, he said, exposes local producers to inequitable competition from importers operating under far more favourable conditions.
“The suspension threatens Nigeria’s aspiration for self-sufficiency in petroleum products and reopens the economy to vulnerabilities associated with global price shocks, supply disruptions, and foreign exchange pressures,” Yusuf stated.
He further warned that a renewed reliance on petroleum imports would intensify demand for scarce foreign exchange, weaken the naira, fuel inflation, and worsen the balance-of-payments deficit.
According to the brief, the policy shift could also trigger job losses across the refining, petrochemicals, logistics, and manufacturing value chains.
The CPPE expressed concern over the potential erosion of investor confidence, arguing that frequent policy reversals discourage long-term planning and threaten the viability of major national assets, including large-scale and modular refineries.
While acknowledging the need to address short-term supply concerns, Yusuf argued that dismantling protective measures was not the answer.
Instead, he recommended guided, quota-based importation to fill temporary supply gaps without jeopardising domestic capacity.
The Centre urged the Federal Government to immediately reinstate the 15 per cent duty, introduce targeted incentives for local refiners, strengthen infrastructure support, and provide policy predictability under a “Nigeria First” industrial protection framework.
He emphasised that safeguarding the Dangote Refinery and modular refineries was essential to securing Nigeria’s long-term economic and strategic interests.
“Nigeria must avoid short-term measures that jeopardise long-term national interests. The suspension of the 15% import duty puts at risk: Energy security, Industrialisation, Foreign exchange stability, Job creation, Backward integration, National economic sovereignty.
“Protecting domestic refining capacity is an urgent national imperative. Reinstating protective measures, supporting local refiners, ensuring policy predictability, and regulating import volumes are essential steps toward securing Nigeria’s industrial future.
“The Dangote Refinery and emerging modular refineries are transformative national assets. Safeguarding them aligns squarely with Nigeria’s long-term economic and strategic goals,” Yusuf said.
