At N617 per litre, Nigerians still pay least price for petrol – Tinubu

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With the sharp vicissitudes of fortune Nigerians have experienced since the withdrawal of fuel subsidy which resulted in the increase in the pump price of the product, President Bola Tinubu said the country still pays the least for a litre of the product, compared to the other West African countries.

Recall that the president had during his inauguration on May 29 announced the elimination of petrol subsidy thus pushing the price of the product up from N189 per litre to N617 and above.

Addressing journalists at the presidential villa in Abuja yesterday, the special adviser to the president on media and publicity, Mr Ajuri Ngelale, quoted Tinubu as saying that data supplied by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited showed that Nigerians pay the least price for petrol per litre and reeled out figures which he said the president “has authorised me to share with Nigerians that otherwise would be confidential.”

“These are graphics supplied to Mr President by the NNPCL. In the graphics, what you will find is the present cost of refined petroleum motor spirit at the pump in each of the West African nations that neighbour us and I’ll just name some for example, even as I know, you will be showing your audiences the graphics, which the president has graciously approved for public release today.

“Senegal’s pump price today is N1,273 equivalent per litre, Guinea at N1,075 per litre, Côte d’Ivoire at N1,048 per litre equivalent in their currency, Mali N1,113 per litre, Central African Republic N1,414 per litre, Nigeria is presently averaging between N568 and N630 per litre.

“We are presently the cheapest, most affordable purchasing state in the West African sub-region by some distance. There is no country that is below N700 per litre. So this is the backdrop we have seen that at the inception of our deregulation policy as of June 1, as Mr President took office, we saw PMS consumption in the country drop immediately from 67 million litres per day consumption, down to 46 million litres per day consumption. The impact is evident,” he said.

He appealed to Nigerians to understand the need for the economic policies despite the impact on citizens.

“What it also does mean though, is that we are not at the end of the tunnel. There is still a bit of darkness to travel through to get toward the light. And we are pleading with Nigerians to please be patient with us.

“And as we promised from the beginning we will be open with Nigerians, we will be transparent with them. And we are ready to show you exactly what it is that our nation is facing with respect to the illiquidity in the market in terms of foreign exchange, as a result of what is now known to have been gross mismanagement of the Central Bank of Nigeria over the course of several years preceding this time,” Ngelale added.

Nevertheless, the presidential spokesman said Tinubu had assured that the government would take measures to maintain the current pump price of petrol without a reversal of its policy on subsidy removal.

Ngelale said the president “is convinced based on information before him that we can maintain current pricing without reversing our deregulation policy by swiftly cleaning up existing inefficiencies within the midstream and downstream Petroleum sector.”

He said it is incumbent on the all stakeholders to hold their peace and endeavour to do due diligence to ascertain the true position.

According to him, the president is intent on maintaining competitive tension to ensure that no single individual or organisation dominates the sector.

Ngelale said the government would address the inefficiencies in the midstream and downstream petroleum value chains so that the price can be stabilised.

“The president wishes first to state that it is incumbent upon all stakeholders in the country to hold their peace.

“We have heard very recently from the organized labour movement in the country concerning their most recent threat.

“We believe that the threat was premature and that there is a need on all sides to ensure that fact finding and diligence is done on what the current state of the downstream and midstream petroleum industry is before any threats or conclusions are arrived at or issued.

“Secondly, Mr. President wishes to assure Nigerians following the announcement by the NNPC limited just yesterday that there will be no increase in the pump price of petroleum motor spirit anywhere in the country.

“We repeat, the president affirms that there will be no increase in the pump price of petroleum motor spirit.

“We also wish to affirm that the president is determined to maintain competitive tension within all sub sectors of the petroleum industry.

“He is determined to ensure that our policy drawn up as well as policy implemented follows the cue that there will not be any single one entity dominating the market.

“The market has been deregulated. It has been liberalized and we are moving forward in that direction without looking back.

“The President also wishes to affirm that there are presently inefficiencies within the midstream and downstream petroleum sub sectors that once very swiftly addressed and cleaned up will ensure that we can maintain prices where they are without having to resort to a reversal of this administration’s deregulation policy in the petroleum industry,” he stated.

On the threat by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to shut down the economy over rumoured plan to increase the price of fuel, Ngelale said there was no need for the threat, describing it as “premature.”

“The president wishes to state that it is incumbent upon all stakeholders in the country to hold their peace. We have heard very recently from the organized labour movement in the country with respect to their most recent threat.

“We believe that the threat was premature and that there is a need on all sides to ensure that fact-finding and diligence is done on what the current state of the downstream and midstream petroleum industry is before any threats or conclusions are arrived at or issued,” he added.

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