By Àkànní Olúwaségún Michael
The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has warned against growing calls for the liberalisation of petroleum product imports, describing the move as a threat to Nigeria’s industrialisation drive and economic stability.
Instead, the economic think tank advocates support for strengthening local refineries including the $20 billion Dangote Refinery which currently operates as world’s largest single train refinery with a capacity of 6650,000 barrels per day.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the Chief Executive Officer of the CPPE, Muda Yusuf, said the debate over fuel importation extends beyond the oil sector and touches on the broader framework of Nigeria’s economic strategy.
He stated that, “this debate goes far beyond petroleum products. It speaks to the very architecture of Nigeria’s economic philosophy, the future of industrialisation, the resilience of the macroeconomy and, ultimately, the preservation of the country’s economic sovereignty. No nation has ever imported its way to industrial greatness.”
Yusuf stressed that excessive dependence on imports had previously weakened the Nigerian economy. “For decades, Nigeria’s dependence on imported petroleum products created deep distortions within the economy. It exerted enormous pressure on foreign reserves, weakened the naira, accelerated the collapse of domestic refineries and entrenched a rent-seeking ecosystem,” the statement added.
“At the height of the fuel subsidy era, Nigeria spent trillions of naira annually subsidising imported fuel. effectively transferring national wealth, jobs, industrial opportunities and value creation to foreign economies,” he lamented.
Warning against a return to such policies, Yusuf said, “It would therefore be economically imprudent to recreate the very conditions that previously weakened the economy.”
The CPPE boss urged the Federal Government to prioritise domestic refining, especially in light of recent investments such as the Dangote Refinery.
“Nigeria has just witnessed one of the most consequential industrial investments in Africa through the establishment of the Dangote Refinery. These investments should ordinarily be strategically supported, celebrated and strengthened,” the statement reads.
He, however, expressed concern over policy inconsistencies, stating that “Instead, there appears to be mounting pressure for unrestricted importation of refined petroleum products, a policy orientation capable of undermining domestic refining investments and discouraging future industrial commitments. This presents a troubling contradiction in policy signalling.”
Speaking on competition, Yusuf said the current environment places local producers at a disadvantage as domestic producers contend with high energy costs, poor infrastructure, multiple taxation, elevated interest rates, logistics bottlenecks and FX volatility, while foreign producers operate within significantly more supportive ecosystems.
He argued that competition can only be meaningful where production occurs under broadly comparable conditions. “Otherwise, what is presented as competition merely becomes the institutionalisation of structural disadvantage,” he said.
Yusuf further warned that an indiscriminate liberalisation regime within a structurally fragile economy is not a pathway to competitiveness, saying: “It is a pathway to deindustrialisation.”
On regional trade, he cautioned that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) could pose risks if local industries are not strengthened. “Trade liberalisation without competitiveness is not integration; it is deindustrialisation,” he said.
Drawing parallels with food imports, Yusuf noted, “Nigeria’s recent experience with food importation clearly illustrates the dangers of excessive liberalisation. While it provided temporary price relief, it disrupted local agricultural value chains and weakened incentives for domestic farmers.”
