*President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, at his maiden edition of the Presidential Media Chat, in Lagos, maintains he has no regrets whatsoever removing fuel subsidy, stating the pump price of the petroleum product has ‘gradually crashed’ amid competition in a free market economy

Isola Moses | 绿帽献妻

“The market is being saturated. No monopoly, no oligopoly, a free market economy flowing.”

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, confidently stated this Monday, December 23, 2024, while answering questions from select media professionals during his maiden edition of the Presidential Media Chat, held in Lagos.

绿帽献妻 reports President Tinubu, who insisted that Nigeria could not continue to be ‘Father Christmas’ to neighbouring countries by getting smuggled and cheap petroleum products, asserted that he has no regrets about announcing removal of the controversial petrol subsidy during his Presidential inauguration May 2023, in Abuja, FCT.

Why fuel subsidy removal?

The Nigerian leader also averred: “I don鈥檛 have any regrets whatsoever in removing petrol subsidy.

“We are spending our future; we were just deceiving ourselves; that reform was necessary.”

AV Credit: Channels TV

Highlighting the country’s peculiar circumstances that led to subsidy removal last year, the President told Nigerians during the chat in his Bourdillon residence, in the highbrow Ikoyi area of Lagos State, that petrol subsidy removal some 18 months ago has equally increased competition within the sector.

The pump price of petrol has gradually crashed, he restated.

It鈥檚 鈥楴o鈥� to price control in Nigerian economy, says Tinubu

Tinubu further disclosed he does not believe in price control and he won鈥檛 go that path.

He noted: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 believe in price control; we will work hard to supply the market.”

Hitherto, Nigeria, Africa鈥檚 most populous country, had faced energy challenges, with all its state-owned refineries non-operational.

The country is heavily reliant on imported refined petroleum products, with the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) being the major importer of the essential commodities.

Prices of petrol soared since the removal of subsidy May 2023, from around N200/litre to about N1,400/litre in some parts of Nigeria.

However, petrol prices have continued to crash from over N1000/liter to N965 at NNPCL retail outlets in Abuja, and N935/liter at MRS filling stations in partnership with the Dangote Petroleum Refinery as of Monday, December 23.

The energy situation has compounded consumers’ woes amid economic hardship coupled with unified Foreign Exchange (Forex) windows, with the value of the Naira nosediving terribly from $1/N700 to over $1/1,600 at the parallel market.

Prices of food and basic commodities immediately skyrocketted, as millions of Nigerians battled attendant soaring inflation in the economy.

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