SAN FRANCISCO, October 01, (THEWILL) – President Buhari on ‘Independence Day’ hinted on an impending adjustment of petrol price. The decision, the President says, is a critical one that his administration must make in the midst of the current economic crisis.
In his independence anniversary broadcast, Buhari said “In the circumstances, a responsible government must face realities and take tough decisions. Petroleum prices in Nigeria are to be adjusted. We sell now at N161 per litre.” He did not indicate if the adjustment will be more than the present N161 pump price for petrol or N180 for diesel at the moment.
The President made comparisons with other oil producing nations, where petrol sells much cheaper and wondered why Nigeria must sell lowest and cheapest.
“A comparison with our neighbours will illustrate the point. Chad which is an oil producing country charges N362 per litre. Niger, also an oil producing country sells 1 litre at N346. In Ghana, another oil producing country, petroleum pump price is N326 per litre. Further, Egypt charges N211 per litre. Saudi Arabia charges N168 per litre. It makes no sense for oil to be cheaper in Nigeria than in Saudi Arabia”, Buhari said.
Buhari commended his government for taking giant steps to bring the country out of a “near destruction “ stage it met. “No government in the past did what we are doing with such scarce resources. We have managed to keep things going in spite of the disproportionate spending on security. Those in the previous Governments from 1999 – 2015 who presided over the near destruction of the country have now the impudence to attempt to criticize our efforts.”
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