The National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) forecasts that with Dangote Refinery and other refineries coming on board, Nigerians should expect a significant crash in the price of premium motor spirit (petrol). The product was sold for less than ₦200 per litre before the removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu; it currently sells for around ₦930 per litre, depending on the area.
Ayo Omotayo, Director-General of NIPSS, believes better days are ahead for the country. “With the removal of the first subsidy, we have Dangote Refinery coming on. We have the other refineries. The refinery in Port Harcourt has worked continuously for 110 days if I’ve counted right! These are the short-term gains,” Omotayo said during an appearance on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief.
“We are buying fuel a little bit more expensive, but as we predict at the National Institute that if we continue with what we are currently doing, fuel by itself will come down. We’re looking at it coming down as low as ₦750 before the end of the year. And of course, foreign exchange, we believe, will still drop to about 1.3 before the end of the year, and it is going to continue like that as more of our refineries come into place. We will become a net exporter in the long run,” he added.
Omotayo emphasized that while the immediate gains might be minimal, in the long run, Nigeria will make up for whatever sacrifices are being made today. President Tinubu’s decision to end the long-running arrangement to support fuel prices was necessary, according to Omotayo, as the country was on the verge of collapse due to unsustainable subsidies.
“So for us at the National Institute, it was a very timely step that Mr. President took, and it has come a long way in saving Nigeria,” he stated. “We were on the verge of collapse with subsidies. The subsidies we were paying were just totally unimaginable, and of course, we were subsidizing fuel as far as Burkina Faso, as far as Sierra Leone in some instances. So a government that wants to succeed must take very tough decisions.”
Source: channelstv.com
