2023-07-03 22:01:15
In Nigeria, prices at the pump continue to soar. At the end of May, they even tripled. At issue: a decision by the brand new president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. To everyone’s surprise, the leader signed off on fuel subsidies. A decision that has affected all sectors of activity, even if the circulation of vehicles has resumed in the main cities of the country. Paradoxically, Nigeria – Africa’s second largest producer of crude oil – now imports more than 90% of its fuel.
From our correspondent in Lagos,
Almost a month that the activity is quiet at the road terminal of the company G. Agofure Motors. Kelly Imonuno supervises the departures of minibuses providing links between Lagos and the Niger Delta and eastern Nigeria.
« The number of customers is very low. As you can see today, the first vehicle is gone. Before, our ticket prices were more accessible. This morning we would have had more passengers. And it would be four or five buses leaving this terminal one following the other “, he explains.
The removal of the fuel subsidy had a devastating effect on the turnover of this transport SME. Kelly is worried. If the price of fuel does not come down in the coming months, his job and those of his colleagues might be threatened.
« Not long ago, following loading a vehicle, upon departure, I might give my drivers 3 000 naira for them to buy fuel. But now, with the removal of subsidies, fuel is being sold at 500-something naira per litre. I give them 8 to 10 000 naira, which allows them to buy 20 liters of gasoline. Whereas before, 3 000 naira was enough to buy these 20 liters. »
A tripling of the price of gasoline
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu fully assumes his decision to stop, from the first minutes of his mandate, a subsidy dating from the end of the 1970s.
The new Head of State has summoned the main importers of refined products in Nigeria to Abuja. Since then, all players in the transport and marketing of fuel have taken refuge in silence. And this is hardly surprising according to Olabode Sowunmi, an oil and gas expert from Cabtreng Consulting.
« The way Nigeria manages its accounts, balances its accounts, but also the way it administers its budget and manages its economy. All of this is problematic. And these systemic concerns have existed for decades. It’s not like it happened yesterday. Therefore, Nigeria can no longer afford to pay this fuel subsidy. »
The fuel subsidy was in the federal budget until June 2023. It would be some $6.1 billion that was already owed to NNPC, the National Oil Company. One more debt for Nigeria, even if this subsidy is abandoned.
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