Nigeria’s fuel marketers are warning of a major showdown with the federal government over how petrol prices should be handled, with the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) threatening to close stations nationwide if authorities push for price controls.
IPMAN spokesperson Chinedu Ukadike made the threat in a recent interview, citing mounting pressure from government regulators and ministries to curb what they describe as exploitative pricing. His comments followed calls from the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Heineken Olokpobiri, who urged the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority to act against marketers accused of taking advantage of consumers.
The government’s stance also echoed earlier warnings from the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, which issued a statement on Sunday raising similar concerns and cautioning fuel sellers against charging petrol at levels seen as unjustifiably high. The backdrop is a broader market shift: Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate have both fallen to roughly $72 and $69 per barrel, respectively, after trading above $100 earlier amid geopolitical tensions involving Iran and the United States–Israel conflict.
Even with the global crude decline, fuel prices in Nigeria have remained elevated. The situation is visible in Abuja, where petrol is reportedly being sold across many stations at between N1,210 and N1,300 per liter. IPMAN argues that the domestic price adjustments have not moved in line with crude oil trends, prompting the government to warn marketers against pricing behavior that could worsen affordability for households.
In response to the federal push for intervention, Ukadike said enforcing price controls would leave marketers with no practical option other than to halt operations. He argued that the sector is meant to be deregulated under the Petroleum Industry Act, and that regulators should not attempt to dictate retail pricing. Ukadike said many operators have been absorbing losses in the wake of recent price reductions linked to activity around the Dangote refinery and the downstream retail market.
He said marketers have been strained financially in recent weeks, losing an estimated N10 billion to N15 billion due to falling petrol prices. “Capital is hard to gather. There is no buffer area for marketers,” Ukadike said, adding that operators buy fuel at one price before it reaches their stations, only for the price to drop further by the time they sell. He maintained that some sellers are being forced to offer petrol at a loss just to remain competitive, arguing that if prices are not competitive, customers will simply not buy.
Ukadike also said IPMAN would act if authorities attempted to impose controls, warning that it would shut filling stations across the country. “Marketers will shut down if they try somehow to enforce price control. We are going to shut down our stations nationwide,” he said, adding that it is inconsistent for regulators to control a market that the Petroleum Industry Act has already deregulated. He argued that regulators cannot reasonably set selling prices without understanding what marketers paid for the product, and he criticized what he described as mixed signals from government.
“You can’t be regulating a deregulated market. You can’t tell me how much to sell my product without trying to know how much I bought it,” Ukadike said. He concluded that the Petroleum Industry Act must be followed “to the letter,” reiterating that if authorities push for price control, IPMAN will shut down outlets nationwide.
