A CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF LEGAL FRAMEWORK ON DEREGULATION OF THE DOWNSTREAM SECTOR OF THE NIGERIAN PETROLEUM INDUSTRY

The study seeks to explore the need for total deregulation of the downstream sector of the Nigerian petroleum industry to address inefficiencies in the sector to promote adequate supply of petroleum products through regulatory reforms and by making reference to the experiences of other relatively advanced jurisdictions to strengthen Nigeria's downstream petroleum sector's laws. The work adopts a conceptual approach relying on extant literature with the application of the doctrinal legal research method. The study also makes use of primary and secondary sources of laws such as statutory and judicial authorities. The key finding is the overbearing presence of the Federal Government in the sector and inappropriate pricing of petroleum products which have made the sector unattractive to private investors due to excessive regulation of the sector. The research proposed a model to end incessant hike in the price of fuel. The research ends with suggestions based on the findings the need for sophisticated mixture of regulations and non-regulatory incentives for investments in the sector and advocates speedy passage of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill to encourage private investors and to eliminate subsidy regime being a source of corruption in the sector