The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) says the recent World Bank fuel importation prescription is a recipe for deindustrialization and national economic retrogression.
The group also maintained that suggesting that Nigeria should open its borders to imported Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to solve an inflationary crisis is structurally flawed, counterproductive, and highly detrimental to Nigeria’s industrialization agenda.
The group expressed this in its review of the April 2026 Nigeria Development Update (NDU) by the World Bank, alongside its subsequent clarification regarding the downstream petroleum sector.
The manufacturers reiterated their fundamental objection to the initial premise that reinstating petrol import licenses is a viable, long-term strategy to avert an inflation spike, saying, ” it is not, and should not be considered as an option.”
It argued that the act will perpetually constrain Nigeria into the circle of exporting jobs and wealth, and importing poverty.
According to the association, the analysis panders to short-term bias and does not take into account Nigeria’s foundational macroeconomic realities of the Nigerian economy.
Segun Ajayi-Kadir, Director General, MAN, said: “Nigeria’s inflation is fundamentally cost-push and can be aggressively driven by exchange rate volatility, adding that “promoting PMS imports means returning to the era of fiercely competing for scarce foreign exchange (FX) to fund foreign refineries.
“Such depletion of FX depreciates the Naira further. A weakened Naira spikes the cost of importing critical raw materials and machinery for domestic manufacturers, triggering a far bigger wave of inflation across all sectors of the economy than a temporary 12% differential in fuel pump prices.”
Nigeria exported raw crude for decades only to import refined products; effectively exporting our wealth, jobs, and capital to subsidize the manufacturing sectors of Europe and Asia, the manufacturers said.
The association reasoned that halting import licenses and empowering local refining is the most significant structural victory Nigeria has achieved in its energy sector in fifty years.”
It argued that reverting to importation is to succumb to economic sabotage, adding that relying on imported fuel exposes Nigeria to damaging external supply shocks.
It posited that true and lasting price stability can only be achieved through local production, where internal supply buffers insulate the domestic market from international crude freight premiums and global supply chain disruptions.
The association advocated practical, home-focused, and sustainable measures to mitigate the global energy supply shock and lower consumer prices.
It said that while the implementation of crude oil sales in Naira to local refineries is a landmark structural victory, its current execution requires unmitigated optimization.
The association advised the Federal
Government to mandate total transparency in the domestic pricing matrix and ensure that local refineries receive their full, unhindered daily crude quotas without bureaucratic bottlenecks.
It implored the government to accelerate the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Initiative by heavily subsidizing the conversion of commercial and industrial transport fleets.
“We should focus on removing supply-side bottlenecks for manufacturers. This includes optimizing the National Single Window (NSW) platform; removing the critically burdensome 4% FOB levy and facilitating single-digit credit facilities for manufacturers to scale production and lower unit costs,” it added.
The association argued that the reliance on liquid fuels for industrial production is a major component of the country’s energy crisis, adding that fixing the national grid and incentivizing captive, off-grid renewable power solutions for industrial clusters will significantly reduce our dependence on costly refined petrol.
