THE Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has resumed being the sole importer of petrol into the country barely five months after announcing that it would no longer do so.
According to media reports, this development was disclosed by the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Mele Kyari, at the Energy Labour Summit organised by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) in Abuja.
Kyari stated that the decision was due to foreign exchange issues, which have made it difficult for private companies to import petroleum products.
“We are the only company importing petrol into the country. None of them can do it today. For them, access to foreign exchange is difficult.
“We create foreign exchange (FX), therefore, we have access to FX, while their access to FX is limited,” Kyari said. 
Recall that in June 2023, Kyari announced that private companies would have the opportunity to import fuel starting from June 2023, as the NNPCL plans to end crude oil swap contracts and switch to cash payments for fuel imports.
Kyari said the decision aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s efforts to deregulate the fuel market and alleviate the financial burden on the government.
It would also be recalled that shortly after the announcement by Kyari, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Authority (NMDPRA) said that it had granted petrol import licenses to six private companies.
Now, Kyari’s latest revelation has raised concerns that the government is gradually bringing back the petrol subsidy regime.
Reacting, Oil and Gas analyst Kayode Oluwadare said one of the things deregulation (petrol subsidy removal) was supposed to do was to allow independent marketers to import petrol on their terms.
“However, now that the NNPCL has restored the status quo as the sole importer, it shows that the country is back to the petrol subsidy regime,” Oluwadare said.
