CPPE Warns Against Unrestricted Fuel Imports Amid Dangote-NNPC Legal Tussle

The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has warned against calls for unrestricted importation of petroleum products, saying such a policy could undermine Nigeria’s domestic refining ambitions and weaken the country’s long-term industrialisation drive.

The economic advocacy group said the ongoing debate over fuel import liberalisation goes beyond petroleum products and reflects broader questions around Nigeria’s economic model, industrial capacity and economic sovereignty.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Muda Yusuf, founder and CEO of the group argued that excessive dependence on imported petroleum products had historically imposed severe costs on the Nigerian economy, including mounting pressure on foreign exchange reserves, fiscal leakages and the collapse of local refining capacity.

“For decades, Nigeria’s dependence on imported petroleum products created deep distortions within the economy,” Yusuf said. “It exerted enormous pressure on foreign reserves, weakened the naira, accelerated the collapse of domestic refineries and entrenched a rent-seeking ecosystem.”

The intervention comes amid growing debate within the downstream sector over market competition following the commencement of operations at the Dangote Refinery, Africa’s largest refinery with a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day.

While some industry stakeholders have called for unrestricted imports to prevent market dominance and ensure competitive pricing, CPPE said opening the market without adequate protection for local refiners could discourage investment and reverse recent gains in domestic refining.

According to the private think tank, the continent most populous nation was previously spending over $10 billion annually on petroleum imports at the peak of fuel subsidy payments, worsening trade deficits and macroeconomic instability.

“It would be economically imprudent to recreate the very conditions that previously weakened the economy,” it said.

The organisation defended strategic support for domestic refining, noting that many countries protect critical industries through tariffs, subsidies and industrial policies. It cited the United States, China, Europe and India as examples of economies actively supporting local manufacturing and strategic sectors.

CPPE also argued that local refiners operate under difficult conditions marked by high energy costs, poor infrastructure, multiple taxation, elevated interest rates and logistics bottlenecks, unlike foreign producers who benefit from more supportive operating environments.

“Competition can only be meaningful where production occurs under broadly comparable macroeconomic and structural conditions,” the group stated. “In the absence of such parity, what is presented as competition merely institutionalises structural disadvantage against domestic industries.”

The group further rejected claims that the Dangote refinery poses a monopolistic threat, saying the company’s scale should not be mistaken for anti-competitive behaviour.

“Scale creates competitiveness, lowers unit costs and strengthens economic resilience,” CPPE said. “Nigeria should not demonise audacious investment and industrial risk-taking.”

The organisation warned that indiscriminate liberalisation had previously contributed to the collapse of several Nigerian industries, including tyre manufacturing, textiles, automobile assembly and electronics production.

It added that similar risks could emerge under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) if local industries are not strengthened before deeper trade integration.

CPPE maintained that Nigeria’s economic future depends on strengthening domestic production, refining and manufacturing rather than sustaining import dependence.

“The future of Nigeria’s economic resilience lies in production, refining, manufacturing and value addition,” the group said. “No economy becomes prosperous by importing what it can produce domestically.”