President Bola Tinubu has approved a 15% ad-valorem import duty on diesel and premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petrol.
In a letter dated October 21, 2025, Damilotun Aderemi, the private secretary to the president, conveyed Tinubu’s approval to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
Tinubu approved a request by FIRS to apply the 15% duty on the cost, insurance and freight (CIF) to align import costs to domestic realities.
According to the letter, the implementation of the import duty will increase a litre of petrol by an estimated N99.72 kobo.
“At current CIF levels, this represents an increment of approximately 99.72 per litre, which nudges imported landed costs toward 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).” The letter read.
Executive Chairman of the FIRS, Zacch Adedeji, explained that the measure was part of ongoing reforms to boost local refining, ensure price stability, and strengthen the naira-based oil economy in line with the administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda for energy security and fiscal sustainability.
“The core objective of this initiative is to operationalise crude transactions in local currency, strengthen local refining capacity, and ensure a stable, affordable supply of petroleum products across Nigeria” He noted.
Import duties on petrol fall under the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) and the Common External Tariff (CET) framework of ECOWAS, which Nigeria follows. However, petrol (PMS) is classified as an “essential commodity”, and for many years, import duty has been officially set at 0%.