The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria is calling on the Federal Government to allow petrol imports again, weeks after regulators moved to suspend them on the back of improving local refining capacity.
The request comes at a time when supply is expected to rely more on domestic production, especially with output from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and other facilities gradually increasing.
But the concern from marketers is straightforward. When supply is controlled from fewer sources, pricing power also becomes concentrated. Reopening imports, in their view, is less about going back to old habits and more about keeping multiple supply channels open.
What this signals is a growing tension between two directions. On one hand, there is a clear push to build local refining and reduce dependence on imports. On the other, there is the immediate pressure of pricing, where any tightness in supply shows up quickly at the pump.
The argument around competition is not new. Nigeria has seen similar patterns before, where limited supply options tend to push prices upward, regardless of broader reforms in the sector.
At the same time, bringing imports back into the mix raises a different risk. It could slow down the momentum around local refining if operators begin to compete with imported fuel in an uneven market.
So the issue is not just whether imports should return, but how the market is structured going forward. If local refining is still stabilising, shutting out imports completely may create gaps. But opening it up too quickly could also weaken the incentive to build domestic capacity.
For now, the pressure point is pricing. And until supply becomes steady enough to keep prices in check on its own, the debate around imports is unlikely to go away.
