Nigerians moan as reduced fuel price fails to deliver positive impact, NACCIMA blames a demand economy with little domestic production
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Transporters have failed to lower travel costs across the country despite reduction in the price of fuel, Nigerians have lamented, blaming an economic system in which prices hardly come down for any reason once they go up.
Citizens expressed anger that instead of reducing, transport costs are still going up with the multiplier effect on rising prices of goods and services to further hike inflation ravaging the country.
Dangote Refinery reduced the ex-depot price of its petrol from N970 to N899.50 per litre on 19 December 2024, which sparked a price war that led the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) to reduce its ex-depot price to N899 per litre.
Then the NNPC announced its partnership with MRS to sell petrol from its retail outlets nationwide at N935 per litre.
Aliko Dangote, President of Dangote Industries Limited, explained that the reduction in the price of Premium Motor Spirit, commonly known as petrol, to N899.50 per litre at its loading gantry was primarily driven by market forces.
However, Nigerians reeling under high inflation have lamented that transporters fail to reflect the change in travel costs to provide some relief for the masses.
They expressed their views on X (Twitter), as codllated below by The PUNCH:
#AsiwajuOladimeji
“When PMS was N1,200 a litre, transporters increased transport fares. The price of PMS has come down and there is no reduction in the transport fares. Sometimes it’s not about the government. We are also greedy as human beings.”
#Arakunrin
“While the harsh reality is that our people are avaricious. The normal fare from Oshodi to Iyana-Ipaja [in Lagos] is N500, but after the price of fuel increased, it went up to N700.
“Now that the price of fuel came down before Christmas it is N1000. This has left me wondering all day.”
#Brendan Champion
“The slight reduction in fuel price is not enough to trigger a reduction in transportation costs.”
#Undisputed
“The fare the drivers were collecting when the price was N1200 wasn’t even enough. If you want a drastic reduction, then effect a drastic reduction in the fuel price to at least what it was before,”
#Wemmy
“I am not a transporter, but the increase in transport fares was not equal to the increase in the fuel [price]. There was over a 500 per cent increase in fuel price but the increase in transport fares never passed 100 to 200 per cent.”
#Agha Nigerian
“It is pathetic honestly speaking. This is what we are discussing now. Imagine the transport fare from Berger to Mowe [in Lagos] is now N1000 just because of the programme at the Redeem Camp.”
#Linus Lincoln
“The amount which members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers are charging drivers is much.”
In its reaction, however, the National Association of Chambers of Commerce Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) blamed the major cause of high transportation costs on a demand economy that depends too much dollar exchange rate.
Dele Oye (NACCIMA President)
“The main thing that affects all the prices is the dollar. The dollar is affecting power, it is affecting everything in our lives. Because we are a demand economy,” Oye told The PUNCH.
“We are not a supply economy. A demand economy means most of the things you use are goods from outside Nigeria. If we were a supply economy, it would be that most of the things we can produce, like Turkey, which is a supply economy.
“Our production capacity is not even 30 per cent of our needs. So that’s why everything, all the vehicles on the road, imagine all of them, 99 per cent are imported.
“Once they have those single digits, it will increase production and people will be able to buy the goods. Import substitution.”
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