Fueling hopes
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) have agreed on a new…
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) have agreed on a new ex-depot petrol price of ₦995 per litre after petrol pump prices sold between ₦998 and ₦1,030 per litre at various NNPC outlets in Lagos and Abuja, respectively. This decision has paved the way for the resumption of fuel loading at depots across the country. Speaking on the announcement that NNPC is no longer the official middleman for petrol supply from Dangote refinery to oil marketers, IPMAN president Maigandi said the parties are still negotiating, and the union will start loading products directly from Dangote after negotiations.
Since President Tinubu’s inauguration day declaration that “subsidy is dead,“ the pump price of petrol has jumped by over 450% in 16 months. To be fair to the government, it had little choice but to eliminate petrol subsidies due to the massive spending and corruption that had nearly toppled the Nigerian economy. Many analysts today criticise the double whammy of naira devaluation and subsidy removal as the reasons for Nigerians’ widespread suffering. Across the world, petrol pump prices are close to $1 per litre. At ₦1,100 per litre, Nigeria’s starting pump price will be about $0.70 per litre, suggesting that either the Dangote Refinery is producing at a highly efficient rate to bring down the average price across the board, or there is still an element of subsidies. If the latter is the case, then there may be more price hikes to come.