The Yoruba Council Worldwide (YCW), a prominent socio-cultural organization, has issued an appeal to President Bola Tinubu, urging him to implement extreme protectionist measures to shield Nigeria’s emerging domestic petroleum refining industry from hostile foreign and domestic interests.
Speaking to journalists at the Ooni’s Palace Press Corps Unit on Monday, YCW President Oladokun Hassan proposed a dramatic increase in the tax rate applied to imported refined petroleum products. The group insists the Federal Government must raise the current 15 per cent import duty to 200 per cent, or even impose an outright ban, to guarantee the success of local production facilities, most notably the colossal Dangote Refinery.
Hassan stressed that Nigeria must act decisively to protect the Dangote refinery from what he termed deliberate sabotage. He warned that the nation must not permit the petroleum industry workers’ union, “under whatever guise sabotage or disrupt Dangote refinery’s input to the nation’s economic growth and development.”
To reinforce this protectionist stance, Hassan’s statement laid out a clear policy prescription for the President. “We advocate for higher trade tariffs from the current 15% to as high as 200% or a complete ban on imported petroleum products, to protect Nigeria’s refining industry, in line with protectionist policies utilised in the United States and other advanced nations,” he said.
The YCW further argued that the government’s continued authorization of fuel import licenses—issued through agencies like the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL)—is detrimental to national energy security.
“While commending President Bola Tinubu for the Renewed Hope Agenda and his Nigeria First Policy, we caution that the continued issuance of import licenses… contravenes Section 317 of the Petroleum Industry Act and is a grave threat to national energy security,” the statement added.
In a serious condemnation of the activities of certain labor groups, the YCW called on the Federal Government to take immediate action against what it described as “saboteurs” within the industry. Hassan backed this claim with disturbing data. “We are aware that Dangote Refinery has survived 22 sabotage attempts, allegedly involving corrupt refinery workers and external collaborators determined to cripple the new 650,000 BPD facility,” he revealed.
Consequently, the YCW urged President Tinubu to launch a top-level inquiry into the alleged corporate malfeasance. “In light of these disturbing developments, we urge President Tinubu to order a comprehensive forensic investigation into the activities and finances of those unions, oil multinationals, and their collaborators, with particular focus on uncovering alleged sabotage, financial improprieties, and regulatory collusion,” Hassan concluded.
