The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria has threatened a nationwide shutdown of filling stations if the Federal Government attempts to enforce price controls in the deregulated downstream sector.
The development follows a warning from the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, who spoke in Abuja at the 2026 General Counsel and Legal Advisers Forum organized by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority.
At the event on Monday, Lokpobiri declared that while the era of government-fixed prices is over, deregulation does not mean regulators should abdicate their responsibility to protect consumers from profiteering and exploitation.
Questions have been raised over why retail petrol prices, currently between ₦1,140 and ₦1,210 per litre, have remained largely unchanged despite global crude oil prices falling sharply from about $120 per barrel during the US-Iran conflict to around $72.
Lokpobiri insisted that the Petroleum Industry Act specifically empowers government institutions to ensure Nigerians are not ripped off by fuel marketers.
“As part of the requirements of deregulation, prices have to be determined by market forces. The NMDPRA has a unique responsibility, compounded by the PIA, to ensure not only that products are available but also that unnecessary profiteering is stopped,” Lokpobiri said.
According to him, “Yes, the market is definitely deregulated, but that doesn’t limit deregulation… What is important is the reality of the situation in the industry. Primarily, market forces have to determine prices. But we also have a responsibility as a government to ensure that there is no profiteering. The PIA specifically vested (that power in) government institutions, including the NMDPRA.”
However, the independent marketers have denied these allegations of exploitation, revealing that many operators are actually incurring massive financial losses.
The National Publicity Secretary of IPMAN, Chinedu Ukadike, explained that recent, successive price reductions carried out by the Dangote refinery have left many marketers stuck with highly expensive inventory on their way to their filling stations. He stated that operators cannot sell their current stock competitively without taking severe hits, all while battling low patronage and struggling to repay commercial bank loans that carry fixed interest rates.
Ukadike insisted that the government must address the root cause of high fuel prices by fixing its own state-owned refineries and boosting importation to create genuine competition.
Ukadike stated, “Marketers will shut down if they try somehow to enforce price control. We are going to shut down our stations nationwide. You can’t be regulating a deregulated market. You can’t tell me how much to sell my product without trying to know how much I bought it.”
He added, “We, the independent marketers, are losing money. We bought petrol at a particular rate a few days ago; on our way to our filling stations, there was a reduction. We have been struggling with the price. We have been struggling against financial losses. We are also struggling against stagnation due to low patronage of our products. Because those marketers who are purchasing now are purchasing at a lower price, and they are selling cheaper. If you don’t bring down your price, you cannot see buyers. This is the beauty of deregulation. If you cannot compete, you will not survive in the market. And because most of us are trading on bank loans, the bank does not know when the price goes up or goes down. Their interest rate is fixed; their return on investment is fixed. So, you must pay them. This is the situation we find ourselves in.”
Ukadike maintained that factors of demand and supply must be allowed to completely dictate the market without arbitrary interference.
“By the time more products come in, you will see that the prices will go down. What we, independent marketers, are asking for is not about regulation or trying to bring price control or trying to force marketers to sell below or trying to force Dangote to sell below its production cost. What we are asking is to open up the various channels, boost importation, and let local refineries start refining. This will push the competition to the peak. With this, prices will drastically go down,” he stated.
The official urged the present administration to stop contradicting its own economic policies.
Ukadike said, “The primary cause of this is that there is no competition. If there should be competition, the refineries will be working. That is where the minister should put his energy to ensure that our local refineries or whatever partnership we have with the Chinese will work. It is not about going to filling stations to check who is selling at higher prices. Do you know how much I bought the fuel for? Can you have a regulated market in a deregulated economy? You can’t be blowing hot and cold at the same time. The PIA must be followed to the letter. If they try to enforce price control, we will shut down.”
