The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has urged the new leadership of Nigeria’s petroleum regulatory agencies to prioritise domestic refining, energy sovereignty and accelerated production growth as central pillars of sector reforms.
The advisory is contained in a statement issued on Thursday by the Chief Executive Officer of CPPE, Muda Yusuf, following President Bola Tinubu’s recent appointment of new chief executive officers for the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
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On 17 December, President Tinubu replaced the heads of the two petroleum regulatory agencies amid allegations of corruption levelled against the former chief executive officer of the NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, by Aliko Dangote, President and Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Industries Limited.
Mr Dangote accused Mr Ahmed of corruption, abuse of office and economic sabotage, allegations he said were undermining Nigeria’s domestic refining capacity, particularly the operations of his multi-billion-dollar refinery, the largest in Africa.
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The accusations came against the backdrop of disagreements over petroleum importation policies implemented under Mr Ahmed’s leadership, which Mr Dangote alleged disadvantaged locally refined products.
Mr Ahmed had consistently argued that Nigeria’s petroleum supply should not be monopolised and that importation permits should remain open to other market players to promote competition.
In a further escalation of the dispute, Mr Dangote alleged that Mr Ahmed was living beyond his legitimate means, citing the overseas education of his children as evidence of possible conflicts of interest and regulatory compromise.
Mr Dangote subsequently petitioned Mr Ahmed through his lawyer, Ogwu Onoja, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), calling for his investigation and prosecution. Mr Ahmed has yet to publicly respond to the allegations.
President Tinubu later announced the replacement of both Mr Ahmed and the former NUPRC chief executive, Gbenga Komolafe. They were succeeded by Oritsemeyiwa Amanorisewo Eyesan as chief executive of the NUPRC and Saidu Mohammed as chief executive of the NMDPRA.
Strategic opportunity
On Thursday, CPPE described the recent appointments as a strategic opportunity to reset Nigeria’s petroleum regulatory architecture and realign the sector with the administration’s objectives of energy security, self-reliance and economic resilience.
According to the group, petroleum regulators must urgently refocus sector priorities on reducing import dependence, expanding domestic capacity and catalysing investments across the entire oil and gas value chain.
CPPE said strong and deliberate support for domestic refining must be an immediate and non-negotiable priority in the downstream segment of the industry.
It urged the government to adopt policies that favour locally refined petroleum products through targeted fiscal, regulatory and infrastructural support for both public and private refineries, while encouraging new investments in refining capacity.
The group criticised the current framework that allows imported petroleum products to compete with locally refined products under what it described as unequal fiscal and regulatory conditions.
“This does not constitute fair competition,” Mr Yusuf said, adding that genuine competition can only exist when all operators function under the same policy, tax and regulatory environment.
He called on the NMDPRA to place domestic refining at the centre of its policy framework in line with the federal government’s Nigeria-First policy and industrialisation agenda.
According to CPPE official, a strong domestic refining base is essential for job creation, foreign exchange conservation, macroeconomic stability and the development of export-oriented refining capacity.
He added that domestic refining also promotes backward integration and resource-based industrialisation by strengthening Nigeria’s petrochemical, fertiliser and allied industries.
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Production growth and upstream reforms
On the upstream segment, CPPE urged the government to ramp up crude oil and gas production by implementing policies that attract fresh investments across onshore and offshore assets.
The group said this is particularly important as the global energy transition accelerates, stressing the need for Nigeria to maximise the value of its hydrocarbon resources while the opportunity still exists.
It called on the NUPRC to prioritise production growth, investment facilitation and improved security, with a national target of raising crude oil output to at least two million barrels per day.
CPPE also advocated expanded investment in gas production and strict enforcement of domestic crude supply obligations to local refineries.
“These strategic imperatives must define the direction of Nigeria’s new petroleum regulatory leadership if the sector is to drive sustainable growth, industrialisation and long-term economic resilience,” the statement said.
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