An attendant dispensing fuel at a filling station | File Image
By Valentine Amanze
Nigerians should expect a crash in the price of petrol (premium motor spirit), with Dangote Refinery and others coming on board.
The Director-General of National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Ayo Omotayo, expressed the optimism on Tuesday April 1, 2025.
The product was sold for less than ₦200 per litre before the removal oil subsidy; it currently sells for around ₦930 per litre, depending on the area.
“With the removal of the first subsidy, we have Dangote Refinery coming on. We have the other refineries. The refinery in Port Harcourt has worked continuously for 110 days if I’ve counted right! These are the short-term gains,” Omotayo said on Tuesday when he was featured on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief.
“We are buying fuel a little bit more expensive, but as we predict at the National Institute that if we continue with what we are currently doing, fuel by itself will come down.
“We’re looking at it coming down as low as ₦750 before the end of the year. And of course, foreign exchange, we believe, will still drop to about 1.3 before the end of the year, and it is going to continue like that as more of our refineries come into place.
“We will become a net exporter in the long run.
“The gains at this time are very little, but then in the long run, we will make up for whatever sacrifices we have made today as Nigerians.”
Also read: FG worsens Nigerians’ plight, hikes fuel price again
President Tinubu’s action ended a long-running arrangement to support fuel prices.
For years, the Federal Government swapped crude for gasoline that it then subsidises for its domestic market, causing a huge drain on revenue, foreign exchange and contributing to ballooning debt.
Tinubu had vowed on the campaign trail to remove the costly help, and during his inauguration, he declared that the “fuel subsidy is gone”.
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