CPPE advises FG to reinstate 15% import duty on petrol, diesel immediately

The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), a private think tank, has advised the federal government to reinstate the 15% import duty on petrol and diesel immediately. The CPPE gave the advice in a policy brief signed by Muda Yusuf, its Chief Executive, and issued in Lagos on Sunday. It said the duty was to serve as an industrial protection instrument designed to support emerging private refineries, promote backward integration and industrial development, and ensure a level playing field for domestic producers The duty was also to conserve scarce foreign exchange, protect jobs, stimulate local value addition, reduce exposure to global supply instability. The CPPE said  the suspension of the duty  by the federal government would have profound implications for the country. It said the suspension would adversely affect the country’s refining sector, erode investment confidence, macroeconomic stability as well as the long-term competitiveness of the petroleum downstream sector.and had exposed domestic refiners to inequitable competition from importers benefiting from vastly superior international conditions.
It also said the suspension of the duty also posed a threat to domestic refining investments as local refiners will now operate within a high-cost environment shaped by expensive energy and self-generation, infrastructure gaps and logistics bottlenecks and high cost of capital, amongst other. “These structural disadvantages make parity with imported products impossible without protective measures,’ it said. CPPE advised the federal government against short-term measures that would jeopardise long-term national interests. It said the reinstatement of the duty is essential to restoring competitive balance and safeguarding domestic refining investments. “The reinstatement of the duty will also provide targeted production and Infrastructure Incentives and guarantee crude supply agreements, among others. A stable, multi-year industrial protection framework under the Nigeria First Policy is necessary to reassure investors and support long-term planning.
“Reinstating protective measures, supporting local refiners, ensuring policy predictability, and regulating import volumes are essential steps toward securing Nigeria’s industrial future. The Dangote Refinery and emerging modular refineries are transformative national assets. Safeguarding them aligns squarely with Nigeria’s long-term economic and strategic goals,” the CPPE said.