Muda Yusuf, economist, financial analyst and former director general of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), has advised the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to publish Nigeria’s petrol supply gap before granting import licences to products marketers.
According to Yusuf, the essence of this, is to energise domestic production which Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals (DPRP) has been quite up to the challenge of meeting domestic supply.
Yusuf, who is the chief executive officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), wrote in a statement while reacting to NMDPRA recent fact-sheet data, which showed that the Nigera’s premium motor spirit (PMS) also called petrol imports rose by 43.3 percent in July 2026, despite Dangote Refinery’s capacity to meet domestic supply.
“Nigeria’s import approvals must be tied transparently to verified domestic supply gaps, he said.
“Regulatory discretion should therefore be exercised transparently, predictably and consistently with the country’s domestic-refining and industrialisation objectives.
“NMDPRA should publish a product-by-product supply-gap determination before approving material import volumes; give qualified domestic refiners a fair opportunity to meet verified demand; restrict import permits to the quantified residual gap and a defined validity period; and publish monthly permit, landing and domestic-evacuation data.
“This is not a call for monopoly or blanket protection. It is a call for systematic, rules-based regulation that makes competition fair, protects consumers and supports domestic productive capacity,” the former LCCI director-general advised.
Dangote Refinery had recently blamed NMDPRA’s persistent issuance of petrol import licences for the rise in Nigeria’s fuel imports, amid awash local production.
The mega refinery, with a 700,000 barrels per day capacity, has also threatened to export all its refined petroleum products, and halt sales of its petrol to importers and marketers.
Our source said the refinery’s decision to ban PMS sales to major marketers who are still importing petrol into the country, stems from its concerns over product quality, market transparency and brand integrity.
It also alleged that some petrol importers were in the unprofessional habit of blending substandard imported PMS with petrol purchased from Dangote Refinery, before distributing same to the domestic market, making it difficult to distinguish refinery-supplied product from third-party blends.
Meanwhile, Yusuf said, indiscriminate import licensing by NMDPRA weakens investment, jobs, foreign-exchange conservation, industrialisation and national energy security.
