2023-05-31 15:54:00
Pump prices have nearly tripled at petrol stations across Nigeria since the new president’s announcement on Monday to end fuel subsidies, causing immense distress in Africa’s most populous country.
Just sworn in as president, Bola Tinubu declared Monday the end of fuel subsidies, one of his campaign promises, sowing a wind of panic among consumers who rushed to gas stations causing huge queues in major cities across the country.
The president’s communications team then hastened to specify on Tuesday that the subsidies would expire at the end of June, as budgeted by the previous administration, citing the “unnecessary” panic buying of fuel.
But at the same time, the national oil company (NNPC) affirmed during a press conference, that in spite of the provisioned budget, the State was no longer paying. And that the government owed him the equivalent of 5.7 billion euros in subsidies paid by it.
On Wednesday, it announced that it “had adjusted its prices at the pump in its various points of sale, in line with market realities”, effectively putting an end to subsidized fuel for Nigerians.
In the big cities of the country, the prices displayed in service stations had then almost tripled, causing immense distress among Nigerians, nearly half of whom live below the poverty line, and already face very high inflation.
“The fuel price increase is outrageous, last week I bought fuel here at 197 naira (0.40 euros) per liter and now I am paying 540 naira (1.10 euros) for the same litre” , fumes Mustapha Hassan, a 45-year-old civil servant in front of a gas station in Kano, the most populous city in northern Nigeria.
“We will have to walk to work (…) and the prices of goods will explode, it is the people who will pay the price”, he says exasperated.
money pit
In Abuja, the political capital, located in the center of the country, the same price increase. And Monday Egbe, a taxi driver already sees the consequences on his business: “There are no customers, they stay at home, I have already been forced to increase the price of the fare from 1,500 to 3,500 naira “.
In Lagos, following the monster traffic jams which paralyzed the economic capital of 20 million inhabitants on Wednesday morning, the streets were almost emptied of cars in the early evening, its inhabitants limiting their movements as much as possible because of the new price.
Nigeria, one of Africa’s biggest oil producers, is swapping billions of dollars worth of crude oil for imported fuel due to failing state refineries.
To buy social peace, the government has hitherto borne part of the fuel costs, thus allowing service stations to sell gasoline at prices well below the market.
These subsidies, although very popular with the population, each year siphon off billions of dollars from the public coffers, which might be spent in priority sectors in decline, such as health and education. This system has also encouraged massive embezzlement.
So far, authorities have not announced any measures to mitigate the impact on consumers.
The Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC), which brings together several unions, attacked the decision and demanded on Wednesday that it be immediately withdrawn.
“We are outraged by President Bola Tinubu’s decision to remove fuel subsidies without conducting the necessary consultations or putting in place remedial measures,” the NLC said in a statement.
Over the past ten years, the authorities have tried to remove these subsidies on several occasions. In vain. Each time, they had to backtrack in the face of public anger, inflated to the hilt by the unions.
In 2012, the army even took to the streets to maintain calm during monster demonstrations.
1685567158
#Nigeria #price #fuel #tripled #announced #subsidies #TV5MONDE
