Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, has defended Nigeria’s petrol prices despite the removal of subsidy and rising pressure from consumers.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday, Lokpobiri said petrol in Nigeria was still cheaper than in the United States and some African countries.
“In the US, the average, you know, liter of fuel is N1,633. In Nigeria, it’s on the average of N1,430. If you go to Cameroon, it’s N1,959. If you go to Ghana, it’s N2,070. If you go to South Africa, it’s N2,070. So Nigeria’s average cost of fuel per litre is still lower than,” he said.
His comments came as Dangote Refinery and other marketers cut depot prices after global crude oil prices fell. Dangote reduced its price from N1,350 to N1,325 per litre, while prices also fell in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Calabar and Warri. Pump prices, however, remained between N1,370 and N1,450 in some areas.
Lokpobiri said deregulation had opened the sector to private investment and argued that Dangote Refinery would not have survived if government had continued importing petrol and selling below market prices.
“But for the policy of deregulation, Dangote Refinery wouldn’t have been the most attractive IPO in the continent. If government was continuously importing, as NNPC was doing, and selling at a lower price than the market price, Dangote wouldn’t have been able to survive.”
He also defended subsidy removal, saying savings were now shared through FAAC, with states able to fund major projects.
“These days we get 2.1 trillion being shared. This is the first time it is happening. You’ll recall that before this government came, about 27 states had no capacity to pay even salaries. Today, states are doing gigantic projects. It’s because of the savings that we made from this subsidy.”
He said deregulation would not be reversed, adding that global energy prices affect consumers everywhere. He also pointed to Dangote’s aviation fuel supply and rising foreign reserves as gains from the sector, saying the CBN recently stated that 85 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign reserves came from oil and gas.
