The National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS), the umbrella body representing students in Polytechnics, Monotechnics, and Colleges of Technology across Nigeria, has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to impose a total ban on the importation of refined petroleum products.
The call was made on Wednesday during a solidarity rally held in Benin City, themed “Protecting National Assets, Securing Youth Futures: NAPS Solidarity with Dangote Refinery for Economic Growth and Stability.”
Addressing students and supporters, the National President of NAPS, Comrade Eshiofune Paul Oghayan, stressed that banning fuel importation is crucial to protecting the nation’s refineries from economic sabotage and shielding the future of young Nigerians.
Oghayan said the Dangote Refinery possesses the capacity to end decades of dependence on fuel imports, strengthen the country’s foreign exchange reserves, and deliver significant economic benefits.
He alleged that some labour unions in the oil and gas sector are making attempts to undermine the operations of local refineries, describing such actions as a threat to national stability and economic growth.
According to him, the rally was organized to galvanize support for domestic refineries, especially Dangote Refinery, amid concerns over “potential sabotage.”
NAPS maintained that halting the influx of imported fuel would protect indigenous refiners from unfair competition, spur economic development, create jobs for Nigerian youth, and ensure energy self-sufficiency.
“Today, we gather here in Benin City, Edo State, not as spectators of national affairs, but as stakeholders in Nigeria’s industrial destiny,” Oghayan said. “This rally is not noise. It is a national message. We are here because silence, at this moment, would be sabotage wrapped in cowardice.”
He described the Dangote Refinery as a symbol of African innovation and resilience, saying: “One refinery rose, not from foreign hands, but from Nigerian courage. It is the largest single-train refinery in the world—built by African hands, on African soil, and with African grit.”
NAPS called on the Federal Government to protect the refinery as a strategic national asset, insisting that “any sabotage against it must be treated as economic terrorism.”
The association also urged the government to allocate 100% of locally available crude oil supply to the Dangote Refinery, arguing that doing so would help reduce fuel prices, stabilize the naira, and curb foreign exchange losses.
While acknowledging President Tinubu’s approval of a 15% reduction in fuel importation, the student body argued that “half-measures cannot deliver full recovery,” insisting that Nigeria must refine all the fuel it consumes.
“We demand national priority for locally refined fuel in government procurement, transport, aviation, power, and military sectors,” Oghayan added.
He warned that failure to protect the refinery would mean losing “more than fuel”—including job opportunities, research prospects, technology transfer, and “a generation of industrial opportunity.”
