Garba Deen Muhammad of the NNPC has announced that the state oil company has jerked up the price of premium motor spirit, otherwise called petrol, from ₦185 to as high as ₦545 per litre, while it is retailed at ₦488/litre in Lagos. Acting on the pronouncement of the newly inaugurated President Bola Tinubu, that subsidy on petroleum products is finally gone, NNPC claims prices will continue to fluctuate to reflect market dynamics.
While the new prices are for NNPC retail outlets across the country, other retailers are expected to sell at higher prices since NNPC is currently the sole importer of refined petrol. The announcement has expectedly led to chaos at the pumps, higher transport fares, traffic gridlock occasioned by vehicles queuing to buy fuel, and mainly anxiety has there is no clear policy direction on the removal of subsidy.
It was reported the government was meeting with organised labour who have taken pot shots at the sudden announcement and its attendant impact on Nigerians. Mr Muhammad, the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of NNPC, assures the company regrets the decision and calls on Nigerians to support it in this time of change.
The subsidy regime is an ongoing saga under different administrations. On January 1, 2012, former President Goodluck Jonathan announced the removal of fuel subsidy, thereby adjusting the fuel price from ₦65/litre to ₦141. This move sparked mass protests, which was known as the Occupy Nigeria movement and led by the arrowheads of the current administration and its predecessor. The protests were held in major cities of the country and the fuel price was later reduced to ₦87.
Following his predecessor, the Buhari-led administration equally mentioned that they were going to totally remove fuel subsidies because the funds were entering private pockets and the benefits not felt by the people targeted. The gradual removal of the subsidy hiked the fuel price from ₦87 to ₦145 per litre.
Nigeria is said to have spent well over ₦10 trillion on fuel subsidies, according to the report collated by NNPC, PPPRN and Dataphyte Research in 2020. It however came as a shock many Nigerians that the first order of business of the new administration was to completely take out the fuel subsidy.
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has opposed the plan by President Bola Tinubu to enforce his predecessor’s decision to remove fuel subsidies by June end. “We are not in support of the removal of fuel subsidy at this time. We have said repeatedly that our refineries should be fixed before taking such a decision that will cause galloping inflation and inflict more hardship on the masses,” said Ukadike Chinedu, national public relations officer of the trade group.
