Nigeria’s reliance on imported fuel has reached alarming levels, with new data showing that imported petroleum products now account for 71% of total consumption, a sharp increase from previous years.
Industry analysts attribute this trend to marketers increasingly bypassing struggling local refineries in favor of cheaper and more readily available foreign supplies.
Despite efforts to revive Nigeria’s refining sector, including the long-awaited operationalization of the Dangote Refinery, many fuel marketers still prefer imports due to unreliable local production, persistent downtime at state-owned refineries like Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna has left them operating far below capacity.
Inconsistent crude supply, maintenance issues, and inefficiencies make locally refined products less competitive compared to imports. Even with the Dangote Refinery coming onstream, distribution bottlenecks and pricing concerns keep marketers dependent on foreign fuel.
The surge in fuel imports has significant consequences. Nigeria spends billions of dollars annually on fuel imports, worsening foreign exchange shortages.
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Local refinery underutilization threatens thousands of jobs in the oil and gas industry. Heavy reliance on imports leaves Nigeria vulnerable to global supply disruptions and price shocks.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has pledged to ramp up domestic refining, but experts argue that policy reforms, better incentives for local refining, and improved infrastructure are needed to reverse the trend.
As fuel marketers continue to favor imports, the question remains, can Nigeria’s refineries ever regain the trust of the market, or will dependence on foreign fuel become a permanent reality?
