FG Unveils New Relief Package To Cushion High Petrol Prices

The Federal Government has announced a fresh package of measures to cushion the impact of high petrol prices on Nigeri­ans, including a 30-day margin discount at NNPC Limited stations, a proposed N1,350 per litre ceiling on petrol ex-gantry or landing costs and increased cash transfers to vulnerable households. Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Prof. Taiwo Oyedele, previously committed volumes are freed up. He said the arrangement would help shield domestic pet­rol prices from volatility in the international market. The minister further disclosed plans to reduce regulatory costs that contribute to the cost of do­ing business and, consequently, the prices of goods and services. He said traffic management agencies would improve traffic flow in major urban centres to re­duce fuel consumption, while NI­POST’s newly launched address codes would help make logistics more efficient and cheaper. Oyedele said the measures became necessary as the current surge in fuel prices was being driven largely by a global energy shock following the conflict in the Gulf, with Brent crude trading above $100 per barrel. He said petrol, which sold for about N830 per litre when crude was around $70 per barrel before the conflict, now averages about N1,400 per litre. While acknowledging that higher fuel prices were imposing significant pressure on house­holds and businesses, the minis­ter maintained that returning to a blanket subsidy would create greater fiscal and economic risks. He estimated that returning petrol to its pre-reform price would cost more than N20 tril­lion annually, while a N500 per litre pump price would cost over N16 trillion a year. Oyedele said such expenditure would have implications for gov­ernment spending on salaries, pensions, schools, hospitals and security. He said subsidy removal had released N15.8 trillion to the Fed­eration Account between June 2023 and December 2025, with N10.4 trillion going to state and local governments. According to him, govern­ment had also used savings from subsidy removal, alongside addi­tional independent revenue and borrowing, on higher wages, in­frastructure, electricity subsidy and social transfers, while part of the funds went into stabilising the economy. The minister said government had already provided significant relief through tax and duty waiv­ers on petroleum products, which he put at over N3.3 trillion for pet­rol alone for the year to Septem­ber 30, 2026. He said the waivers currently saved consumers between N400 and N600 per litre when mea­sured against African and global averages. Oyedele also pointed to the expansion of CNG as another av­enue for reducing dependence on petrol, saying more than 120,000 vehicles were now running on CNG, supported by over 400 con­version centres, 96 refuelling sta­tions and 18 L-CNG stations. He said more than 550 CNG buses had so far been deployed, with fares falling by between 30 and 50 percent where the buses operate. The minister said the govern­ment would continue to target relief at vulnerable Nigerians rather than restore a blanket sub­sidy, insisting that the objective was to ensure that the benefits of economic reforms “We remain open to ideas. But any credible proposal should an­swer three questions: What will it cost? How will it be funded sus­tainably? And what pump price will it deliver?” he said. Oyedele added that the Federal Government was also working on a comprehensive package of fis­cal measures aimed at bringing inflation down to single digit in the near term. Atiku Rejects 30-Day Fuel Discount, Demands Lasting Relief Reacting, former Vice Presi­dent Atiku Abubakar and presi­dential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has said Nigerians need permanently affordable petrol prices and not a 30-day discount as announced by President Bola Tinubu. According to a statement on Thursday by Atiku media, the announcement by the Tinubu’s administration of a 30-day petrol discount at NNPC filling stations ex­poses the contradictions and politi­cal opportunism that have charac­terised the government’s handling of the fuel subsidy question. He challenged the administra­tion to publish the details of its proposed price modulation, dis­close the financial implications, identify all participating outlets and explain how Nigerians with­out access to NNPC stations will benefit. According to him, for months, Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have insisted that petrol subsidy is gone for good. The statement reads, “When Atiku Abubakar proposed a transparent, production-based subsidy to make locally refined petrol affordable, the adminis­tration and its propagandists dis­missed the proposal as economi­cally reckless. “Today, the same adminis­tration is announcing govern­ment-negotiated price ceilings, discounted petrol sales and ar­rangements to cushion consum­ers against market fluctuations.” Atiku wondered what has changed, “The economic reali­ties or the approach of the 2027 general elections? “While we welcome any gen­uine attempt to reduce the suf­fering of Nigerians, a temporary intervention mustn’t become another exercise in political win­dow-dressing. “NNPC Retail has a network of more than 900 outlets nation­wide. Spread across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Ter­ritory, that represents an average of roughly 25 stations per state and the FCT, although the actual distribution is far from uniform. “What happens to Nigerians living in communities without NNPC filling stations? Must they travel long distances, spending scarce money on transport, to access a government-sponsored discount? “More troubling is NNPC’s own July 2026 report, which placed petrol availability across its retail network at just 52 per­cent. “How does a government that has struggled to guarantee con­sistent petrol availability across its own retail network intend to deliver meaningful nationwide re­lief through that same network?” He faulted the government’s increasingly convenient defini­tion of subsidy, stressing that the Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele insists that the proposed inter­ventions are neither subsidies nor price controls. “Yet the gov­ernment is negotiating a ceiling below which petrol costs may be held, while proposing that refin­ers and importers recover any resulting shortfall when market conditions improve. “Who ultimately bears that shortfall? How will it be recov­ered? Will public resources, NNPC revenues or future con­sumers carry the burden? “An intervention that transfers costs, postpones their recovery or uses public resources to make petrol cheaper raises legitimate subsidy-related questions that cannot be dismissed by changing its name.” He questioned why Nigerians must settle for 30 days of selective relief after more than three years of escalating hardship. “Nigerians need permanent­ly affordable petrol, not an elec­tion-season discount that expires after 30 days.”