MAN Slams World Bank Over Fuel Import Advice, Warns of “Economic Sabotage
The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has issued a sharp rebuke of the World Bank’s April 2026 Nigeria Development Update, rejecting suggestions that Nigeria should reinstate petrol import licenses to curb inflation.
In a statement signed by Director General Segun Ajayi-Kadir, MAN described fuel importation as “structurally flawed, counterproductive, and highly detrimental to Nigeria’s industrialization agenda,” warning it would “perpetually constrain Nigeria into the circle of exporting jobs and wealth, and importing poverty.”
MAN argued Nigeria’s inflation is cost-push and driven by exchange rate volatility. Returning to PMS imports would force fierce competition for scarce foreign exchange to fund foreign refineries, further weakening the Naira and spiking costs of raw materials and machinery for manufacturers.
The group said this would trigger “a far bigger wave of inflation across all sectors” than temporary pump price changes.
The association called decades of crude export/refined-product import “economic sabotage” that subsidized foreign economies.
Halting import licenses, it said, is “the most significant structural victory Nigeria has achieved in its energy sector in fifty years.” It also cited global energy volatility, especially Middle East tensions, saying only local production can insulate Nigeria from supply shocks.
Instead of imports, MAN proposed four measures: optimize the Naira-for-Crude policy with full transparency and unhindered refinery quotas; accelerate the Presidential CNG Initiative by subsidizing fleet conversions to cut logistics-driven inflation; remove supply-side bottlenecks like the 4% FOB levy and expand single-digit credit for manufacturers; and fix the national grid while incentivizing off-grid renewable power for industrial clusters.
“Oil is a critical global resource, and national sufficiency should be the goal of all progressive economies,” Ajayi-Kadir stated. “Solving for a competitive retail market for PMS should not approximate to promoting fuel importation.”
MAN credited the Dangote Refinery and other local refineries with starting to deliver relief to Nigerians, warning that imports would undermine domestic refining capacity, disrupt the FX market, and disincentivize local investment.
“We must strive to produce what we consume and consume what we produce,” the DG concluded, urging the Federal Government to reject “neo-liberal prescriptions that could jeopardize or decimate our hard-won domestic manufacturing capabilities.”
The World Bank’s initial NDU report had argued that suspending import licenses stifled competition and pushed up ex-depot prices, contributing to inflation. The Bank later clarified that national energy security is paramount, a point MAN welcomed but said did not go far enough.