President Bola Tinubu has approved a 15 percent ad-valorem import duty on diesel and Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol.
The approval was conveyed in a letter dated October 21, 2025, signed by the President’s Private Secretary, Damilotun Aderemi, and addressed to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
According to the letter, Tinubu granted the approval following a request from the FIRS to apply the 15 percent duty on the cost, insurance, and freight (CIF) value of petroleum imports to better reflect domestic economic conditions.
With this implementation, the price of a litre of petrol is expected to rise by approximately ₦99.72.
In response to the development, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) announced that it has commenced a comprehensive review of the nation’s three petroleum refineries, aimed at restoring them to full operational capacity.
The Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Bayo Ojulari, disclosed this in a statement on his official X (formerly Twitter) handle on Wednesday night. He noted that the company is exploring the option of engaging technical equity partners to “high-grade or repurpose” the refineries.
Ojulari stated, “The NNPCL remains optimistic that the refineries will operate efficiently despite current setbacks.”
It would be recalled that despite spending about $3 billion on refinery rehabilitation projects, only a 60,000-barrel-per-day section of one refinery operated briefly before shutting down. The Warri refinery has remained largely inactive, while the Kaduna refinery is yet to resume operations.
