Nigeria’s Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has urged the government to reject a World Bank proposal to reopen petrol imports as a measure to control inflation, describing the suggestion as counterproductive and unsustainable.
In a statement released over the weekend, CPPE chief executive Dr. Muda Yusuf argued that import liberalisation would deepen Nigeria’s vulnerability to external shocks, particularly given current global crude oil price volatility driven by ongoing geopolitical tensions, including the nearly seven-week Iran-United States-Israel conflict.
The World Bank had earlier recommended reopening imports of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in its Nigeria Development Update, a move aimed at easing inflationary pressures. The proposal was met with swift criticism from economic experts and the public. In a subsequent clarification, the World Bank shifted its stance, advising Nigeria to focus instead on targeted support measures.
CPPE maintains that the country’s economic trajectory should be anchored on a production-driven growth model, emphasising domestic refining capacity, competitive manufacturing, robust agricultural systems, and energy and food security. The centre warned that dependence on fuel imports would undermine efforts to build a resilient, self-reliant, and industrialised Nigerian economy.
The centre called on policymakers to prioritise reforms that strengthen local production and reduce reliance on external supply chains, asserting that sustainable economic stability cannot be achieved through import-dependent strategies.
