I just received a note that Nigeria has raised the price of petrol to N212 per litre. This is breaking hard news. Expect the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and other stakeholders to protest over this increment. Yet, no matter how we see it, if we believe in the spirit of full liberalization, with no subsidy, this is the framework playing live. Yes, as the price of crude oil rises, petrol prices in Nigeria will rise. We hope it drops when the crude price drops. Crude oil price is rising which ideally should be a good thing in Nigeria – but with no working refinery, it is not looking great now!
This is a heavy one for President Buhari who began his tenure when the price of petrol was N87 per litre and now has to deal with it rising to N212. Of course, he “removed” the subsidy.
Tomorrow may be hotter in Nigeria as effective value of wages for most citizens crash! You may wonder – what next! Time for a state of emergency on Nigeria’s economy?
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The fuel pricing regulator PPPRA said in its template released on Thursday night that a litre of fuel would now be sold for prices ranging from N209 to N212 per litre for March. This was against N186 the crucial commodity retailed for in February.
The PPPRA said the landing cost of petrol in March would be N189.61 per litre as against N163.74 in February.
The PPPRA has been setting guidelines for petrol sales since the Buhari administration announced partial deregulation of the oil sector, but the government maintains control of policies that determine ultimate retail costs.
The new hikes come barely a day after President Muhammadu Buhari promised to return fuel price to below N100 for Nigerians.
Update: The government has deleted the post. “In the wake of the outrage that greeted the increase in the price of Premium Motor Spirit also known as petrol, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, on Friday, deleted an earlier published template announcing that the new price of petrol has reached N212.6 per litre. The deletion came hours after the agency published the template on its website, http://pppra.gov.ng/pms-guiding-price-for-march-2021/, and after the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation insisted that there was no increment in the ex-depot price of petrol.”
The state minister of petroleum resources, Timipre Sylva, also released a statement: ”Irrespective of the source of that information, I want to assure you that it is completely untrue. Neither Mr President who is the Minister of Petroleum Resources nor myself who deputise for him as minister of state has approved that the petrol price should be increased by one naira. I therefore urge you to disregard this misleading information.”
JUST IN:#NNPC Insists No Increase in Ex-Depot Price of PMS in March pic.twitter.com/IQ3S3EWVlM
— NNPC Limited (@nnpclimited) March 12, 2021
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