by Lere Olayinka
So, Buhari’s government has announced a reduced pump price for petrol from January 1, 2016.
TECHNICAL, Petrol will sell at N85/litre.
REALISTICALLY, Petrol will sell above N100/litre.
Even at the present pump price of N87, Nigerians have been buying petrol at between N130 and N300 per litre in the last two months.
To me, this announcement by the FG that petrol will sell at N85 per litre from January 1, 2016 is a deceit taken too far.
When you remove SUBSIDY, it means you have handed the determination of Petrol price to the market forces – what you buy is what you sell.
Therefore, fixing Petrol price after “removing subsidy” is a waste of time.
By the way, what happened to FASHOLA’s position of DECEMBER 7, 2014 that petrol should sell at N50/litre when crude oil price was $66.27 per barrel?
Now that crude oil is less than $40 per barrel, shouldn’t petrol price come down to at least N35/litre?
Lere Olayinka is special assistant to Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State on Public Communications and Media. He tweets from @OlayinkaLere.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
