The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has raised concern over a 234 per cent surge in Nigeria’s petrol imports from May to July in spite of growing domestic refining capacity.
The centre raised the concern in a policy brief signed by its Chief Executive Officer, Dr Muda Yusuf, on rising petroleum product imports and the future of domestic refining.
CPPE said average daily Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) imports rose from 5.9 million litres in May to 18.1 million litres in June, representing a 206.8 per cent increase.
It also said imports rose further to 19.7 million litres daily in July, accounting for 43.3 per cent of total PMS receipts, compared with 12.4 per cent in May.
The centre said domestic PMS supply declined from 41.5 million litres daily in May to 32.5 million litres in June and 25.8 million litres in July.
CPPE said the development was concerning given the expansion of domestic refining capacity.
According to the centre, imports should serve as a tool for addressing genuine supply gaps rather than displacing adequate local production.
It said imports remained legitimate during refinery outages, seasonal demand spikes, quality gaps and strategic stock replenishment.
However, CPPE said that import permits should not be issued without transparent evidence that domestic refiners could not meet demand at acceptable quality, quantity and competitive prices.
The centre urged the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to link import approvals to transparently verified domestic supply gaps.
It said qualified domestic refiners should be given a fair opportunity to meet demand before imports could be approved for residual shortfalls.
CPPE recommended that NMDPRA should publish monthly supply and demand data covering refinery output, inventories, consumption, imports, exports and stock sufficiency.
It also called for time limited import permits, emergency import triggers and stronger monitoring to prevent speculative permits.
The centre said indiscriminate imports could weaken domestic refinery utilisation, discourage investment, increase foreign exchange demand and transfer jobs and economic value abroad.
It noted that Dangote Refinery reported a test run above 700,000 barrels per day in June.
CPPE also recalled that NMDPRA reported 99.12 per cent average capacity utilisation by domestic refineries in April.
It proposed a “domestic supply first, competition always, imports only for verified gaps” framework.
The centre said the approach would help to conserve foreign exchange, support industrialisation, create jobs and strengthen Nigeria’s energy security.
CPPE urged that the framework should not protect inefficient producers or encourage monopoly pricing.
