Nigeria’s fuel price & electricity still cheapest in C&W/Africa- Lai Mohammed
The President Muhammadu Buhari led government has defended the recent increase in electricity tariff and fuel price, saying the price of electricity and fuel in Nigeria remains the lowest in West and Central Africa.
This was contained in a statement on Monday by Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed.
Lai Mohammed also said that with the price of crude going up, the price of petrol locally was consequently bound to increase, therefore the latest price of N162 per litre.
“If, perchance, the price of crude drops again, the price of petrol will also drop, and the benefits will also be passed on to the consumers. The angry reactions that have greeted the latest prices of Premium
Motor Spirit (PMS) is, therefore, unnecessary and totally mischievous.
“The government can no longer afford fuel subsidy, as revenues and foreign exchange earnings have fallen by almost 60%, due
to the downturn in the fortunes of the oil sector. Yet, the government has had to sustain expenditures, especially on salaries and capital
projects. Even though we have acted to mitigate the effect of the economic slowdown by adopting an Economic Sustainability Plan, we have also had to make some difficult decisions to stop unsustainable practices that were weighing the economy down.”
READ ALSO: Why we increased fuel price and electricity tariff- Buhari
The minister further emphasized that the cost of the fuel subsidy is too high and therefore unsustainable.
He noted that between 2006 to 2019, fuel subsidy cost N10.413trillion.
The Buhari administration said despite the recent increase, the price of fuel and electricity in Nigeria “remains the lowest in the West/Central African sub-region.”
He further gave a comparative analysis of petrol prices in the sub-regions in Naira equivalent per litre.
“The truth of the matter is that due to the problems with the largely-privatized electricity industry, the government has been
supporting the industry. To keep the industry going, the government has so far spent almost N1.7 trillion, especially by way of
supplementing tariffs shortfalls. The government does not have the resources to continue along this path. To borrow just to subsidize generation and distribution, which are both privatized, will be grossly irresponsible.
“But to protect the large majority of Nigerians who cannot afford to pay cost-reflective tariffs from increases, the industry
regulator, NERC, has approved that tariff adjustments had to be made but only based on guaranteed improvement in service. Under this new arrangement, only customers with a guaranteed minimum of 12 hours of electricity can have their tariffs adjusted. Those who get less than 12 hours supply will experience no increase. This is the largest group of customers”, he said.
