The Nigerian Federal Government plans to halt the influx of imported lubricant products into the country. The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga, who disclosed this at the opening ceremony of the first Nigeria Lubricant Summit in Lagos last week, said the government has developed a draft national policy for the lubricant industry in the country.

Officials said that lube oil blending plants in Nigeria are currently operating at an average of 45 per cent of their total installed capacities, thus leading to unnecessary job losses, lack of liquidity and appropriate monetization of investment to meet shareholders expectations. One expressed concern that the lube market has become a dumping ground for sub-standard and off-specifications imported lubes of questionable quality, adding that these infractions are a threat to the survival of the lube manufacturers in Nigeria.

Available statistics show that Nigeria has 32 registered blending plants with a total installed capacity of about 965 million litres per year, enough installed capacity to meet the local consumption of lubricants and with potential for export to earn foreign exchange. It is estimated that 80 per cent of the total need of lubricating oils is produced locally while the remaining 20 per cent are specialized products imported by marketing companies into the country. Nigeria is the third largest consumer in Africa of lubricating oils, amounting to about 600 million litres or one per cent of the world total demand.