Nigeria’s Petrol Consumption Down By 18.5 Million Litres Daily, Says Federal Government

The federal government has revealed that Premium Motor Spirit consumption has reduced by about 18.5 million litres daily after the removal of the fuel subsidy.

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) in Abuja disclosed on Sunday that petrol consumed across Nigeria between Jan. 1 and May 28, when fuel subsidy was still in place, was about 9.9 billion litres or 66.9 million litres daily, Punch reported.

However, from June 1-28, following the subsidy removal announcement on May 29 by President Bola Tinubu, the total petrol consumption was 1.36 billion litres or 48.43 million litres daily.

As per the data, the difference between petrol consumption before and after subsidy removal was about 18.5 million litres daily.

The data showed that in the post-subsidy removal phase, some days reported more than 100 million litres of petrol consumption, while on other days, it fell below 10 million litres.

NMDPRA mentioned in the report that some figures in petrol consumption showed that on dates such as March 8, April 20 and May 16, Nigerians consumed more than 100 million litres. However, the reason for petrol consumption being more during these dates was not revealed by the NMDPRA.

President of Nigeria Association for Energy Economics Yinka Omorogbe noted that fuel subsidy removal has created avenues for illegal practices.

For instance, there have been complaints by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and oil marketers about the smuggling of petrol out of Nigeria during the subsidy removal phase.

Aside from illegal practices, Nigerian citizens have also been negatively impacted by the skyrocketing petrol prices, which increased from N195 per litre to N600 per litre. Moreover, transport company Uber announced that it has increased fares to ensure that drivers can cover their fuel costs and deal with inflation in the wake of subsidy removal.

Point-of-Sale (PoS) operators have also agreed on increasing transaction charges across Lagos, Ogun, and Edo states. However, the Central Bank of Nigeria promised that it will resolve issues of hiked charges set by PoS operators.

Apart from the increase in fuel prices, the government also confirmed that a 7.5% VAT on diesel has been implemented.