Nigeria’s leading oil marketers are pushing hard for downstream liberalization, insisting it is the key to ending the country’s chronic cycle of fuel price shocks and supply uncertainty.
Billy Gillis-Harry, National President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), made the call during an appearance on Channels Television’s “The Morning Brief” on Tuesday, laying out what he described as a pragmatic, market-driven path forward for an industry at a critical crossroads.
The timing of Gillis-Harry’s intervention could not be more pointed. Ongoing conflict in the Middle East has sent ripples through global energy supply chains, and Nigeria, still heavily reliant on imported refined petroleum despite its vast crude oil reserves, has felt the consequences acutely.
Petrol prices have surged past the N1,200 per liter mark domestically, squeezing household budgets and driving up the cost of logistics, manufacturing, and basic commodities across the board.
The situation is brought into even sharper relief by data published in the World Bank’s April 2026 Nigeria Development Update (NDU), which revealed that as of March 2026, Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) was retailing at approximately N1,275 per liter locally—roughly 12 percent above the estimated import parity price of N1,122 per liter.
In plain terms, Nigerians are currently paying significantly more for petrol than they would if competitive importation were freely permitted.
The World Bank’s report did not mince words, identifying restricted competition in the downstream petroleum sector and trade barriers on critical imports as key cost escalation drivers across the Nigerian economy.
Among its recommendations was the reinstatement of petrol import licenses—permits that were suspended earlier in the year—to reintroduce competitive pressure into a market it described as increasingly distorted.
At the heart of the debate sits the Dangote Refinery—the continent’s largest—which has emerged as a significant domestic supply source and a symbol of Nigeria’s long-frustrated ambitions toward energy self-sufficiency.
Gillis-Harry was careful to frame his liberalization argument not as an attack on the refinery or the broader local refining ecosystem, but as a complementary strategy during what he characterized as a transitional period.
“The fact that we are depending on the Dangote Refinery today is a great pointer to where we can go,” he said, while simultaneously arguing that temporary allowance of competitive imports would act as a pressure valve against supply shocks and price manipulation.
His vision extends beyond Dangote. Gillis-Harry urged the Nigerian government and relevant agencies to intensify pressure on the NNPC to restore the country’s state-owned refineries to full operational capacity, while also encouraging emerging players such as BUA and Azika to scale up refining operations. The ultimate goal, he stressed, is a diversified domestic supply ecosystem—not a permanent dependency on foreign products.
“Importation should not stop us from mounting pressure on NNPC to make our local refineries roar back to life,” he said emphatically.
In a notable departure from the cautious diplomatic tone often adopted by industry figures, Gillis-Harry offered pointed criticism of Nigeria’s tendency to defer to international financial institutions on domestic policy questions.
While his position on liberalization broadly aligns with the World Bank’s latest recommendations, he was unequivocal in rejecting the idea that such advice should be received uncritically or implemented wholesale. “I do not accept everything that the World Bank advises,” he stated. “We have enough intellectuals in this country. We have very great financial minds and economists who can give Nigeria the direction we can drive. Most of this advice is tinted, in my own opinion.”
It is a sentiment that echoes a growing strand of economic nationalism in Nigerian policy discourse — one that champions homegrown solutions while remaining open to international frameworks where they genuinely serve national interest.
Opponents of liberalized importation have long raised the specter of substandard or adulterated fuel entering the Nigerian market—a concern rooted in real historical episodes that caused significant damage to vehicle engines and public trust.
Gillis-Harry addressed this argument head-on, acknowledging past lapses while expressing confidence in the regulatory framework now in place.
He pointed to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) as the institutional safeguard capable of ensuring that any imported products meet acceptable quality standards before reaching consumers.
“There will be no time that substandard products will be allowed into the system,” he asserted, adding that PETROAN members who hold import licences have strong commercial incentives to source quality products that will pass regulatory scrutiny.
Stripped to its essence, PETROAN’s argument is a straightforward economic one: more suppliers mean more competition, and more competition means more affordable prices for ordinary Nigerians. With five suppliers in the market instead of one or two, Gillis-Harry argues, the structural conditions for price gouging and supply hoarding simply cannot take hold.
“If you have five suppliers, there will be competition and products will be affordable,” he said. “Affordability is a good thing for Nigerians.”
For a country where the cost of transportation—almost entirely dependent on petrol—feeds directly into the price of food, medicine, and virtually every other commodity, that argument carries considerable moral as well as economic weight.
Whether the federal government and regulatory authorities will heed the call remains to be seen. But with prices stubbornly elevated, Middle East tensions showing no signs of imminent resolution, and the World Bank adding its voice to the chorus, the pressure to act is building from multiple directions at once.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
Nigeria’s petrol crisis boils down to one core issue: lack of competition. With prices sitting 12% above import parity levels and supply heavily concentrated around a single domestic source, Nigerian consumers are paying more than they should.
PETROAN’s position is clear: open the market, let more licensed players import, and prices will correct naturally.
The solution is not dependence on foreign supply, nor monopoly at home. It is a diversified, competitive energy market that ultimately puts affordable fuel in the hands of everyday Nigerians.
