Economic Hardship Persists as Petrol Sells for N761, Diesel N1,566, Kerosene N1,875 in Parts of Nigeria

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The economic hardship faced by Nigerians has continued, with fuel prices continuing to soar in March 2024, driven mainly by the current economic reforms embarked upon by the Bola Tinubu administration, the dynamics of international energy rates as well as Nigeria’s inability to refine its fuels locally.

Latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showing the prices of major fuels across Nigeria, indicated that last month, petrol sold for as high as N761 in parts of Nigeria, specifically in Taraba, while diesel retailed for N1,566 in Edo and kerosene, seen as the fuel of the poor, was offered for N1,875 per litre.

For other energy sources, essentially cooking gas, Kano recorded the highest average price for refilling a 5kg Cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), also known as cooking gas, with N7,609.00.

A naturally endowed country, Nigeria has the highest natural gas reserves in Africa, owning, by last week’s assessment of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), over 33 per cent of Africa’s total stock of gas, with about 209.5 TCF.

On the other hand, Nigeria is the continent’s biggest producer of oil and holds the second largest reserves in Africa with over 37.5 billion barrels, just behind Libya, which holds up to 48 billion barrels of the resource in reserves.

Despite these, the country has been unable to fully harness the God-given resources, mostly blaming lack of investment, assets vandalism, outright sabotage, lack of gas transportation infrastructure, among others, for the challenge.

 For close to a decade the country has almost not produced a drop of fuel, because all its refineries are dilapidated.

However, the Dangote refinery, which has begun partial operations as well as the expected coming on stream of the Port Harcourt refinery, will, to some extent mitigate the wholesale importation of products from Europe.

In all, the NBS data indicated that the average retail price paid by consumers for petrol for the month of March 2024 was N696.79, indicating a 163.65 per cent increase when compared to the value recorded in March 2023 , which was N264.29.

“On state profile analysis, Taraba state had the highest average retail price for Premium Motor Spirit (petrol), at N761.92, Yobe and Adamawa States were next, with N749.09 and N735.00, respectively.

“On the other side, Lagos, Oyo and Ogun States had the lowest average retail prices for petrol, at N630.75, N645.88 and N651.25 respectively. Lastly, on zonal profile, the North-east zone had the highest average retail price of N732.37, while the South-west zone had the lowest price of N654.24,” the figures showed.

Before the removal of subsidy by the current administration, petrol was selling for N195 in most parts of the country.

For diesel, the average retail price paid by consumers increased by 59.51 per cent on a year-on-year basis from a lower cost of N840.81 per litre recorded in the corresponding month of last year, March 2023, to a higher cost of N1,341.16 per litre in March 2024.

On a month-on-month basis, an increase of 6.69 per cent was recorded from N1,257.06 in the preceding month of February 2024 to an average of N1,341.16 in March 2024.

“Looking at the variations in the state prices, the top three states with the highest average price of the product in March 2024 included: Edo State (N1,566.67), Jigawa State (N1,533.33) and Cross River (N1,532.71).

Nigeria’s inflation hit 32.2 per cent in March, a level last seen about three decades ago, as the market prices of food remained elevated, driven partly by  rising energy and transportation costs.

But NBS listed the states with the top three lowest prices of diesel as Plateau State (N1067.25), Niger State (N1140.00) and Adamawa State (N1175.00). The zonal representation of average price of diesel showed that South-south had the highest price of N1419.35 while North-central zone had the lowest price N1230.98 when compared with other zones.

Also, the average retail price per litre of kerosene paid by consumers in March 2024 was N1,354.40. However, an a year-on-year basis, the average retail price per litre of the product rose by 18.55 per cent from N1,142.46 in March 2023.

“On state profile analysis, the highest average price per litre in March 2024 was recorded in Kaduna with N1,875.00, followed by Benue with N1,773.74 and Niger with N1,719.36. On the other hand, the lowest price was recorded in Rivers with N1,070.79, followed by Sokoto with N1,095.33 and Kwara with N1,110.90.

“In addition, analysis by zones showed that the North-central recorded the highest average retail price per litre of kerosene with N1,497.13, followed by the North-east with N1,393.59, while the South-south recorded the lowest with N1,273.07,” it said.

 Adamawa recorded the highest average retail price per gallon of kerosene with N6,110.44, followed by Bauchi with N5,922.30 and Yobe with N5,800.69, while Delta recorded the lowest price with N4,039.14, followed by Abuja and Enugu with N4,300.00 and N4,430.95 respectively.

The price of gas also continued to rise last month, as the average price for refilling a 5kg cylinder increased by 7.10 per cent on a month-on-month basis from N6,154.50 recorded in February 2024 to N6,591.62 in March 2024.

On a year-on-year basis, this increased by 42.97 per cent from N4,610.48 in March 2023. On state profile analysis, Kano recorded the highest average price for refilling a 5kg cylinder of gas, with N7,609.00, followed by Ogun with N7,363.64, and Akwa Ibom with N7,162.50.

On the other hand, Adamawa recorded the lowest price with N5,312.50, followed by Taraba and Zamfara with N5,375.00 and N5,550.00 respectively.

The average retail price for refilling a 12.5kg cylinder gas also increased by 5.77 per cent on a month-on-month basis from N15,060.38 in February 2024 to N15,929.04 in March 2024 while on a year-on-year basis, this rose by 55.22 per cent from N10,262.56 in March 2023.

On state profile analysis, Sokoto recorded the highest average retail price for the refilling of a 12.5kg Cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) with N17,833.33, followed by Osun with N17,588.46 and Anambra with N17,417.65.

In October last year, the federal government ordered the stoppage of the 7.5 per cent Value Added Tax  (VAT) on cooking to reduce prices. But the impact of that decision has not been felt in the market.