By Joshua Tosin Ogunsakin 
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s recent approval of a 15 per cent import duty on petrol and diesel has been clarified by the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji, who said the move was designed to correct distortions and align import costs with Nigeria’s domestic realities.
In a memo addressed to the president, Adedeji explained that the policy was not aimed at raising government revenue but rather to support local refineries and stabilise the fuel market.
He noted that the wide gap between the prices of locally refined petroleum products and those imported had led to persistent instability in the downstream sector.
“While domestic refining of petrol has begun to increase and diesel sufficiency has been achieved, price instability persists, partly due to the misalignment between local refiners and marketers,” he wrote.
“At current CIF levels, this represents an increment of approximately 99.72 per litre, which nudges imported landed costs towards local cost recovery without choking supply or inflating consumer prices beyond sustainable thresholds.
“Even with this adjustment, estimated Lagos pump prices would remain in the range of N964.72 per litre ($0.62), still significantly below regional averages such as Senegal ($1.76 per litre), Cote d’Ivoire ($1.52 per litre), and Ghana ($1.37 per litre),” he also clarified.
Reports had surfaced on Thursday that Tinubu approved the 15 per cent import duty on petrol and diesel — a move expected to raise pump prices by roughly N99.72 per litre.
Adedeji, however, emphasised that the policy’s objective was to encourage domestic refining and reduce dependence on imported petroleum products.