Yemi Adebowale
The Presidency was back this week to again lecture Nigerians that our petrol is still the cheapest in West Africa. The focus of the sermon is that Nigerians should be happy paying between “just” N568 and N630 for a litre of petrol. President Tinubu approved that the chart containing prices of PMS in other countries be transmitted to Nigerians to show that ours is the cheapest among the West African countries.
The Presidency lectured: “In the graphic, what you will find is the present cost of refined Premium Motor Spirit at the pump in each of the West African nations that border us and I’ll just name some for example…Senegal at pump price today is N1,273 per litre; Guinea at N1,075 per litre, Côte d’ Ivore at N1,048 per litre, Mali N1,113 per litre, Central African Republic N1,414 per litre, Nigeria is presently averaging between N568 and N630 per litre.”
First, the Presidency needs to be reminded that petrol selling between N568 and N630 per litre in Nigeria is not “cheap” in relation to the incomes of many of us. Minimum wage is still a paltry N30,000. Nigerians are at present challenged by the cost of transportation or fueling vehicles to places of work that is higher than their incomes. When a man’s salary cannot cover his cost of transportation to work, that man is finished. This is why some state governments and agencies asked their workers to reduce coming to work to three days in a week. So, how can the Tinubu government say that petrol is cheap at N630 per litre? This is preposterous.
The effect of the massive rise in petrol price has also led to huge increases in the prices of goods and services across beloved Nigeria. Inflation is now over 24 percent. So, the incomes of majority of workers in this country have been eroded. Many can no longer breathe. A bag of local rice is now between N45,000 and N50,000. Prices of other staple foods like maize, millet, beans, sorghum have quadrupled. This is the effect of the “cheap petrol” we are buying in Nigeria.
Nigeria does not belong to the club of the West African countries listed in this sermon on cheap petrol in Nigeria. All these countries are not producers of crude oil. This is one fact those behind “Nigeria’s petrol is cheapest” campaign are running away from. Nigerians ought to be enjoying the dividends of producing crude oil in terms of lower price of petroleum products. Research by TheCable on the price of petrol in other countries published on July 24, revealed that petrol is selling at a price lower than that of Nigeria in many crude oil producing countries. TheCable used statistics from Globalpetrolprices, a global market leader known for tracking the retail prices of motor fuel, electricity, and natural gas in over 150 countries.
For this report, the exchange rate used by TheCable was $1/ N781.85, based on the closing rate of the I & E forex window of the Central Bank of Nigeria as of July 24, 2023. It revealed the price of petrol in the following oil producing countries as follows: Algeria N265; Kuwait N267; Angola N284; Iraq N448; Qatar N451; Russia N460; and Saudi Arabia N485. All these oil producing countries sell petrol at a price lower than that of Nigeria. Those pushing out “Nigeria’s petrol is cheapest” narratives pretend to be unaware.
Another thing revealed by TheCable’s research is that as at July 24, 19 countries sell petrol below the N568 pump price in Lagos. Some of the countries are Algeria N265, Egypt N290, Turkmenistan N335, Malaysia N350, Kazakhstan N381, Bahrain N415, Bolivia N423, Iraq N448, Azerbaijan N459, Oman N485, Ecuador N495.
The “Nigeria petrol is cheapest” propagandist have also failed to admit that there is so much pain, so much suffering in all the West African countries where petrol is selling at a very high price. The high cost of petrol is largely responsible for the poverty in these West African countries. I guess this is the club Tinubu wants Nigerians to be members.
ThisDay
