The controversy over the removal of fuel subsidies in Nigeria has intensified as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) clashed on Tuesday over the pricing of petrol.……CONTINUE READING>>>>>>
According to Punch, the disagreement came amid the depreciation of the naira against the US dollar, which has increased the cost of importing petrol, also known as Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
According to IPMAN, the current pump price of petrol, which ranges from N617/liter to N660/liter, is unsustainable and does not reflect the true market value of the product.
The association claimed that petrol should sell for N1,200/liter in a free market, based on the exchange rate of N1,225/dollar at the parallel market and the cost of crude oil.
However, the NNPCL, which is the sole importer of petrol in the country, dismissed the claims of IPMAN as assumptions and insisted that it was recovering its full cost from its imported products.
The state-owned oil company also maintained that the federal government had stopped paying subsidies on gasoline since May 29, 2023, when President Bola Tinubu announced the deregulation of the downstream sector.
The NNPCL’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, said the company was focused on fostering a vibrant and energy-secure Nigeria and that it prioritized national development over responding to assumptions.
The fuel subsidy issue has been a contentious one in Nigeria for decades, as successive governments have struggled to balance the demand for affordable fuel with the fiscal burden of subsidizing the product.
The subsidy has also been marred by allegations of corruption, inefficiency, and fraud.
Some economists and analysts have argued that the subsidy is not completely removed but reduced, and that it has negative implications for the income and welfare of consumers.
The Chief Executive Officer of Financial Derivatives Company, Bismarck Rewane, said the reduction of subsidies had increased the government’s revenue by 44 percent between May and June 2023, but questioned what the government was doing with the money..……CONTINUE READING>>>>>>
