The warning by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, that deregulation is not a licence for profiteering, could not have come at a better time.
For millions of Nigerians, the deregulation of the petroleum sector has become another name for hardship. Since the removal of price controls, citizens have been told repeatedly that market forces would eventually stabilise supply, eliminate artificial scarcity and create a more efficient downstream sector. To some extent, product availability has improved. But availability without affordability is cold comfort to citizens already crushed by inflation, unemployment and shrinking purchasing power.
Lokpobiri was therefore right to remind petroleum marketers and regulators that deregulation must not become a cover for exploitation. The Petroleum Industry Act was not enacted to transfer public pain into private profit. It was meant to create transparency, competition, investment and accountability. If Nigerians are paying market-reflective prices, they are entitled to market-reflective fairness.
That fairness must begin at the pump. The Minister’s remark that anyone who pays for 10 litres of petrol must receive exactly 10 litres speaks directly to a daily injustice many Nigerians quietly endure. Across the country, consumers complain not only about high prices but also about under-dispensing, arbitrary pump adjustments and sharp practices that regulators often appear too slow to punish.
This is where the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) must rise beyond routine statements. Deregulation does not mean regulatory surrender. A deregulated market still requires strong oversight, transparent pricing information, credible monitoring and swift sanctions against abuse. Without these, deregulation becomes a jungle where the weakest consumers pay the highest price.
Marketers may have legitimate complaints about procurement costs, foreign exchange pressure and global market volatility. Those concerns deserve a hearing. But Nigerians also deserve protection from opportunistic pricing, artificial margins and coordinated exploitation. A stakeholder meeting between marketers, regulators and government is necessary, but it must not become another elite conversation that excludes the suffering consumer.
Lokpobiri’s call for regulatory certainty is also important. Investors need clear and predictable rules. But consumers equally need assurance that Government has not abandoned them to the mercy of market operators. The goal should be a fair balance: a sector attractive to investors but not hostile to citizens.
MJConcept TV News believes the Minister’s caution must be followed by action. NMDPRA should publish clearer pricing benchmarks, intensify pump surveillance, name and sanction defaulting marketers, and open complaint channels that ordinary Nigerians can use.
Deregulation can reform the petroleum sector. But without fairness, transparency and enforcement, it will only deepen public anger.
Nigeria must not replace fuel scarcity with consumer robbery.