The 2023 presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Adewole Adebayo, has urged Nigerians to conserve their energy for future protests against the ongoing rise in petroleum prices, which are currently experiencing a significant increase.
As of now, fuel prices in Nigeria have surged, with petrol reaching over ₦1000 per liter, reflecting the government’s subsidy removal under the President Bola Tinubu administration.
Adebayo made this declaration on Friday during an interview on Channels’ Politics Today.
He stated, “President Tinubu is not going to reverse any subsidy policy because of the following factors:
“One, he who ran on the basis that he’s going to remove fuel subsidy and that his vision of Nigeria, where Nigeria is going, prosperity and subsidy cannot co-exist and he made his case that if you like you can go on rampage, you can go on demonstration, you can go on riot, I will remove the subsidy and there’s nothing… I’m not going to change my mind.
“When I heard that, I said ‘I’m going to defeat this man in this election, clearly people are not going to vote for someone who wants to remove subsidy’ and the same thing the PDP candidate said, he would even to boot, even sell NNPC and the labour candidate said he would also remove fuel subsidy on day one and they gave the same argument…
“Now, when the election results came out and they didn’t lose massively, three of them got the highest votes, it shows to me that maybe Nigerians were not paying attention but they were not too angry that somebody was going to remove subsidy but when the policy was now official I kept reminding people that ‘you see this policy move it’s going to cost you’, and I said this about a year ago that you will see price increase.
“When you called me to the studio, and said we are going to discuss price of petroleum, subsidy, I was thinking to myself ‘is Seun calling me to discuss the price increase today or the one that will come in six months or in one year?’
“Of course, it’s traveling. If anybody is angry or tired, conserve your energy because the price is travelling up… Do you know that the reason why petrol is not N2500 now is because President Tinubu is using the NNPC as a sacrificial lamb to burn the NNPC profitability?”
As Nigerians eagerly await the release of Premium Motor Spirit, popular known as petrol, from the $20bn Dangote Petroleum Refinery, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited said it will lift the product from the plant on September 15 but outlined factors that would determine its price.
It said foreign exchange rates and market forces would influence the cost of petrol, stressing that the market had been deregulated.
This came as oil marketers declared on Thursday that about 2,000 tankers were still awaiting to load the product at various depots of the national oil company in Lagos, Warri and Port Harcourt.
Also, the Federal Government declared that there was going to be a massive supply of petrol at the weekend as vessels had started offloading, but ruled out PMS price fixing.
Operators stated that the government might have put an end to petrol subsidy going by its latest position on the pricing of PMS.
NNPC said foreign exchange illiquidity had been a significant factor influencing the fluctuation in prices of petrol, which are governed by unrestricted free market forces, as provided for in the Petroleum Industry Act.
The Executive Vice President of Downstream, NNPC, Adedapo Segun, said on Thursday during a live television programme that the current fuel scarcity was expected to “subside in a few days as more stations recalibrate and begin selling PMS.”
He said Section 205 of the PIA, which established NNPC, stipulated that petroleum prices were determined by unrestricted free market forces.
“The market has been deregulated, meaning that petrol prices are now determined by market forces rather than by the government or NNPC Ltd. Additionally, the exchange rate plays a significant role in influencing these prices,” Segun added.
On the commencement of lifting PMS from the Dangote refinery, Segun said NNPC was awaiting the September 15 timeline provided by the refinery, adding that the national oil firm had nearly a thousand filling stations nationwide and was collaborating with marketers to “ensure that stations open early, close late, in order to maintain adequate fuel supply to meet the needs of Nigerians.”
“We are also engaging relevant authorities to ensure product diversions are prevented and timely deliveries to all stations are ensured. The scarcity should ease in the next few days as more stations recalibrate and begin operations,” he stated.
