The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) urged the Federal Government and the petroleum industry regulators to disregard the recent prescription by the World Bank that Nigeria should open its borders to imported Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to solve inflationary crisis.

In a position document titled ‘FUEL IMPORTATION PRESCRIPTION AS A RECIPE FOR DEINDUSTRIALISATION AND NATIONAL ECONOMIC RETROGRESSION,’ MAN, described the April 2026 Nigeria Development Update (NDU) by the World Bank, as ” structurally flawed, counterproductive, and highly detrimental to Nigeria’s industrialization agenda.”

Segun Ajayi – Kadir, its Director -General, noted that While we welcome the Bretton Woods institution’s clarification that national energy security is paramount in today’s volatile global climate, we reiterate our fundamental objection to the initial premise that reinstating petrol import licenses is a viable, long-term strategy to avert an inflation spike. It is not, and should not be considered as an option.

The Association emphasised that importation of PMS will undermine domestic refining capacity; contribute to the disruption of the foreign exchange market; disincentivize investment in and expansion of local refining, and truncate the relief that Nigerians have started to enjoy since the advent of Dangote Refinery and other local refineries.

Our Position

The World Bank’s report posited that the suspension of import licenses stifled competition, allowing domestic ex-depot prices to rise, thereby driving up inflation.

This analysis panders to short-term bias and does not take into account the following foundational macroeconomic realities of the Nigerian economy:

The FX Drain and the Major Driver of Inflation

Nigeria’s inflation is fundamentally cost-push and can be aggressively driven by exchange rate volatility.

Therefore, promoting PMS imports means returning to the era of fiercely competing for scarce foreign exchange (FX) to fund foreign refineries. Such depletion of FX depreciates the Naira further.

A weakened Naira spikes the cost of importing critical raw materials and machinery for domestic manufacturers, triggering a far bigger wave of inflation across all sectors of the economy than a temporary 12% differential in fuel pump prices.

The Central Bank of Nigeria, in collaboration with the Financial Markets Dealers Association on Friday announced the introduction of the Nigerian Overnight Financing Rate (NOFR) as a new benchmark for the country’s money market.

The disclosure was contained in a press statement issued by the CBN’s Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Hakama Sidi-Ali.

According to the statement, the introduction of NOFR positions Nigeria alongside global benchmarks such as SOFR in the United States, SONIA in the United Kingdom, €STR in the Eurozone, and TONA in Japan, while also complementing Africa’s JIBAR benchmark in South Africa.

The apex bank explained that the new rate aligns Nigeria with global standards for short-term interest rate benchmarks and is expected to improve pricing efficiency in the money market

“NOFR was developed to align Nigeria with global best practices in short-term interest rate benchmarks.

It is expected to improve price discovery and transparency while promoting consistent pricing of money market instruments,” it added.

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has clarified that it didn’t banned MTN, Glo, Airtel including Vitel Wireless from offering airtime borrowing and data advance services in Nigeria.

The Commission made the clarification in a statement on Friday, dismissing what it called a wave of misinformation, stating unequivocally that “those claims are incorrect,” stressing that “the Commission has not prohibited airtime borrowing or data advance services, and no directive was issued preventing consumers from accessing lawful telecom value-added services.”

The clarification comes amid growing public concern over alleged service disruptions and rising complaints in the telecom sector.

The FCCPC explained that its intervention in the space followed numerous consumer complaints involving opaque charges, unexplained deductions, aggressive recovery practices, poor disclosure standards, and inadequate accountability within segments of the digital lending and advance-services market.

To address these issues, the Commission introduced the DEON Consumer Lending Regulations in July 2025, aimed at curbing “the excesses of abusive service providers whose practices had generated persistent consumer harm and undermined confidence in the market.”