Crude Oil Price Drop Fails To Reflect At Nigerian Pumps
-FG, Marketers Disagree
-Motorists Still Buy At N1,250/litre
By Abdullahi Yusuf with contributions from: Muhammad Ya’u; Abbas Ibrahim; Kabiru Basiru Fulatan; Mustapha Muhammad & Salisu Ibrahim
The recent decline in global crude oil prices had raised expectations of a corresponding reduction in petrol pump prices across Nigeria. However, a standoff between the Federal Government and independent marketers appears to have dashed consumers’ hopes.
Motorists and other consumers had anticipated cheaper fuel following the drop in international oil prices, but the unresolved operational and pricing issues between regulators and marketers have prolonged the current high-cost regime.
The logjam over deregulation had started when the Federal Government warned marketers to reduce pump prices, an action viewed by the IPMAN, as an attempt to impose prices, hence threatened to shutdown filling stations across the country.
Pump prices of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, have risen by more than 50 percent in recent months, and this was largely driven by spikes in global crude prices. The escalation of tensions in the Middle East, particularly between the US, Israel and Iran, pushed crude to about $120 per barrel, forcing retail prices in Nigeria to exceed N1,000 per litre in many locations.
However, following a de-escalation of hostilities and a decline in global crude to around $72 per barrel, expectations were high that pump prices would fall, but that has not happened yet in the country, as consumers continue to buy the product at exorbitant rate per litre.
Checks by our correspondent in Kano metropolis show that most filling stations are still dispensing petrol at N1,250 per litre, well above public expectations. The development has forced many motorists to park their vehicles and resort to tricycles, public transport, or trekking.
Our correspondents report that fuel attendants at several stations said they had not received directives from management to adjust prices downward.
“Petrol retailing is a volatile business with many cost variables. We operate strictly on management instructions. We cannot reduce prices arbitrarily just because crude has dropped at global level. There are local factors that determine pump prices,” one attendant, who requested anonymity, said.
In the ensuing circumstances, the Federal Government has directed the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, to prevent exploitation under the deregulated downstream market, warning against undue profiteering by the marketers.
Speaking at the 2026 NMDPRA General Counsel and Legal Advisers Forum, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Oil, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, said that while the sector is deregulated, regulators must ensure it is not used as a cover for profiteering to exploit the citizens.
“Following the de-escalation of tensions in the Middle East and the decline in global crude oil prices, Nigerians expected to see a commensurate adjustment in the price of PMS. That has not happened,” Lokpobiri stated.
He added that the NMDPRA has a statutory duty under the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA, to ensure market fairness.
In response, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, warned that any attempt to impose price control would force marketers to shut down nationwide.
In a push back by the marketers, the National Publicity Secretary of IPMAN, Chinedu Ukadike, denied profiteering allegations, noting that many marketers were already recording losses due to repeated price cuts by the Dangote Refinery.
He said that “Marketers will shut down if government tries to enforce price control. You cannot regulate a deregulated market. You cannot dictate selling prices without knowing our landing cost,” Ukadike said.
He urged government to investigate the root causes of high prices and to make public refineries operational to boost competition.
In his reaction to the current logjam, the National President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria, PETROAN, Billy Gillis-Harry, said the Minister has powers to intervene but must do so through stakeholder consultation.
“The minister, NMDPRA and even the FCCPC have the mandate to ensure consumers are not exploited. However, such decisions should follow due stakeholder process,” Gillis-Harry said.
He called on the Minister to immediately convene the Petroleum Stakeholders Conference to review the situation and agree on a path that protects consumers without crippling businesses.
With the labour force and consumers bearing the brunt of high transport and commodity costs, stakeholders say the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, should also be brought into the conversation.
As stakeholder called for dialogue to resolve the current impasse between government and marketers, Nigerians are likely to continue buying petrol at above N1,000 per litre and the ripple effects would spiral to rising inflation, reduced movement of goods and services, and pressure on household incomes, which many households are already experiencing nationwide.