A fresh fuel price hike looms and hardship deepens as President Bola Tinubu has approved a 15 per cent ad valorem import duty on automotive gas oil (diesel) and premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petrol.

This was announced in a letter dated October 21, 2025, where the private secretary to the president, Damilotun Aderemi, conveyed Tinubu’s approval to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).

According to reports, Tinubu gave his approval, following a request by the FIRS to apply the 15 per cent duty on the cost, insurance and freight (CIF) to align import costs to domestic realities.

With the approval, the implementation of the import duty will increase the current cost of a litre of petrol and diesel between N950 and N960 per litre and N1,120 and N1,140 (diesel) in Abuja by an estimated N99.72 kobo.

This would push petrol prices to over N1,000 per litre for the majority of filling stations which rely on importers when implemented and certainly push up cost of living as transportation upon which movement of goods and services depends on would spike.

Recent data from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority show that total PMS supply for August 2024 and October 2025 stood at 21.68 billion litres. The report indicated that only 6.67 billion litres of petrol, or 31 per cent, are sourced from local refineries (Dangote Refinery), while 15.01 billion litres, which represent 69 per cent, are imported. This means that the majority of Nigerians still rely heavily on imported petrol.

The land cost of imported fuel stood at N839.97 per litre as of October 21st, 2025, cheaper than Dangote Refinery’s ex-depot price of N877 per litre, according to fuel price costs released by the Major Energy Marketers Association of Nigeria.

The import duty tax on petrol and diesel puts Dangote Refinery’s petrol in an advantageous position.

In the last two weeks, fuel prices skyrocketed nationwide after Dangote Refinery and depot owners increased their ex-depot prices.

The import duty tax approval is coming at a time when FIRS recently issued a directive to banks, stockbrokers, and other financial institutions to deduct a 10 per cent withholding tax on interest earned from short-term securities.