World Bank Deletes Fuel Import Report After Backlash as Oil Marketers, Experts Clash Over Liberalisation

The World Bank has pulled its April 2026 Nigeria Development Update from its website after the report recommended that Nigeria reopen petrol imports, triggering a heated backlash from oil marketers, industry experts, and local refiners who warned it would hurt domestic refining capacity.

Released on April 7, the report argued that restricted competition in the downstream petroleum sector was driving up costs. It recommended reinstating petrol import licences to bring back competition, noting that domestic prices had hit about N1,275 per litre in March 2026 compared with an import parity price of roughly N1,122, a gap of around 12 per cent.

Within days, the World Bank deleted the report and walked back its position, clarifying that it was not endorsing blanket fuel importation. The bank said its focus should instead be on targeted support for the most vulnerable through social safety nets.

PETROAN wants competition

The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria has called for liberalisation that lets licensed players import petrol alongside what the Dangote Refinery produces. PETROAN president Billy Gillis-Harry, speaking on Channels Television, said competition would shield Nigerians from the price shocks caused by the ongoing Middle East crisis.

“We do not want to recommend a total dependence on getting petroleum products from foreign. Importation should not be a permanent thing,” Gillis-Harry said. “Our position is that since we have a local refinery such as the Dangote Refinery, which has helped advance the economy, there is still clearly a need to bring in additional product sources.”

He insisted that PETROAN members who import must meet NMDPRA quality standards. “They won’t import substandard products. They must import what will be acceptable,” he said.

Not everyone agrees

The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise rejected the World Bank’s proposal outright. CEO Dr Muda Yusuf called it counterproductive. The Crude Oil Refinery-Owners Association of Nigeria, through spokesperson Eche Idoko, said imported fuel is of lower quality than what domestic refiners produce.

IPMAN president Abubakar Maigandi also pushed back, saying the country should focus on building local refining capacity and patronising the Dangote Refinery rather than reopening the import tap.

Energy consultant Dr Tim Okon, managing partner at TENO Energy Resources, questioned why the World Bank’s views should carry so much weight in the first place. “Why should the view of the World Bank be this important? It has become important because we have borrowed too much from them,” he said, pointing out that Nigeria’s heavy borrowing from international lenders gives those institutions outsized influence over domestic policy.

The Iran factor

The debate has grown more urgent as the Iran war enters its seventh week, disrupting global petroleum supply chains and pushing local pump prices above N1,200 per litre. Import licences have been suspended since January 2026, and with the Dangote Refinery as the dominant domestic supplier, prices have drifted above import-parity levels.

Whether to let imports back in is now one of the most contested economic policy questions of the year. The answer will shape what Nigerians pay at the pump and whether the country’s hard-won refining independence holds.

Sources: Channels Television, Daily Post, THISDAYLIVE, TheCable, Blueprint