Posted by Samuel on Sat 15th Nov, 2025 - tori.ng
In a statement issued on Saturday by its co-convener, Comrade Olamide Odumosu, the organisation said the tariff was a “wise, courageous and legally sound decision” rooted in the Petroleum Industry Act, which envisaged Nigeria’s liberation from decades of dependence on fuel importation.
The Partners for National Economic Progress (PANEP) has criticised the Federal Government’s reversal of the recently introduced 15 percent tariff on imported petroleum products, describing the decision as a setback to the country’s economic reform agenda.
In a statement issued on Saturday by its co-convener, Comrade Olamide Odumosu, the organisation said the tariff was a “wise, courageous and legally sound decision” rooted in the Petroleum Industry Act, which envisaged Nigeria’s liberation from decades of dependence on fuel importation.
Odumosu claimed the policy reversal was driven by a false narrative that Nigeria lacks the capacity to meet domestic fuel needs, insisting that local players could sustain the country for at least 90 days in the event of an emergency.
PANEP dismissed concerns that a 15 per cent import tariff would lead to price hikes or a supply crisis, insisting that Nigeria would be better served by completely banning fuel importation to dismantle entrenched cartels allegedly benefiting from the current system.
The organisation alleged that much of the imported fuel is of poor quality, facilitated by the complicity or negligence of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA.
PANEP further claimed that some sectoral interests, including unions and associations, have consistently undermined the success of local refining.
The statement read in part: “Nigeria should ban petroleum product importation as a means of seizing oxygen to the oil cartel, who import very bad and poor quality products into the country, knowing that the regulator, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) is nonchalant about the quality of imported products.
“As an organisation, we are not against any player in the oil sector, but it is high time we forced this petroleum products importation cabal to embrace productivity. They should build refineries or form a cooperative to acquire the public refineries and be players in a productive downstream petroleum business. Importation must end.
“While we concede that Mr President acted in what he believed is in the public interest, we also make bold to state that the narratives that led to it were skewed by interests that have refused to allow the country’s local refining project to succeed.”
Criticising the tariff reversal, PANEP maintained that it contradicts President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic recovery plan, questioning the secrecy surrounding Nigeria’s daily fuel consumption figures and accusing regulatory agencies of failing in their duties.
The group recommended that the new implementation timeline for the tariff, initially set for the first quarter of 2026, should commence no later than January 1, 2026, to prevent what it described as “serial policy reversals.”
Odumosu drew parallels with the cement industry, where local production overcame early resistance and allegations of monopoly, arguing that Nigeria will not realise its full refining capacity until petroleum import cartels are dismantled.
The organisation therefore called on the Federal Government to reinstate the 15 per cent tariff and ultimately ban fuel importation before the end of the first quarter in 2026.
“We are getting serious with business under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the gains should not be reversed. The government must stop listening to agencies that have failed in their regulatory duties.
“We reiterate our position that the legal tariff should be reintroduced before the end of Q1 2026, and importation of petroleum products should be banned. Nigeria is capable and the claim of high consumption prices is a fat lie,” Odumosu said.