Nigerian Reacts to Fuel selling at N600 Per Litre

Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nigeria’s newly sworn-in President, announced on Monday that the Nigerian government has removed fuel subsidies. The statement has created panic and chaos in Lagos, as Nigerians buy fuel for N600 per litre.

Tinubu made this known during his inauguration speech on Monday, May 29th.  He said that the controversial fuel subsidy was not budgeted for by the Buhari administration and as such it will be removed.

Reacting to the pronouncement, Nigerians rushed to fill their tanks shortly after the speech as they expected an increase in fuel prices due to the declaration that there will be no fuel subsidy and fuel queues started appearing in some parts of Lagos as early as Monday evening. 

Fuel hike reaches N600 per litre

Few hours after President Tinubu’s statement, a video emerged of pump prices in Lagos selling petrol at N600 per litre and other videos emerged of fuel queues at N700 per litre also in Lagos.

However, Nigerians took their frustration online on Tuesday morning, bemoaning the price hikes, and trading blames on the regulators and retailers. Many also complained about increased fares for ride-hailing services with surges of over 100%.

Nigerians take on the fuel hike

Olúwatósìn Olaseinde, founder and CEO of GetLadda and The Money Africa said that Maybe Tinubu shouldn’t have announced it on stage.

She said “He should have put measures in place first. Our team is going to Covenant University today and they are in a queue to buy petrol at N600/litre” she added.

Also,  @Elkrosmediahub, popular Media Consultant, argued that “N600 per liter is actually outrageous considering the economic state the country is atm.”

Fuel hike is linked to the retailers

Some other Nigerians have blamed the marketers, urging that the sudden price hikes is not the president’s fault, but the fault of retailers taking advantage of the chaos.

Some Nigerians reported that fuel stations in their areas were not selling at all, which could be a way of avoiding trouble with regulatory agencies. Also, the transport costs for middle-class Nigerians were being felt immediately, as Lagosians revealed the sudden hike in the price of fuel.

What to expect

Experts have called for more transparency with the President’s words over the scarcity. Taiwo Oyedele, Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) had said that the Tinubu administration and relevant agencies need to provide context to the fuel subsidy removal declaration.

While speaking on Channels Television on Monday night, Oyedele said that President Tinubu was very clear on his stance as regards the fuel subsidy removal during the presidential campaign season. 

According to Oyedele, the president’s declaration was proof of the decision he had already made to remove the fuel subsidy.