Nigeria Raises Fuel Price by 9% as Subsidy Burden Mounts
By Sahabi Abdul
Nigeria raised the price of petrol at the pumps by 9 percent as it tries to stave off the mounting burden of subsidy paid to keep the price of petrol low.
Motorists will now pay 179 naira for a liter of petrol against the previous price of 165 naira, according to a notice sent out to fuel retailers by state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd.
NNPC is currently the sole importer of fuel in Nigeria with Africa’s biggest oil producer relying on imports to meet local demand with state-owned refineries in disrepair.
Nigerians have experienced persistent fuel shortages for most of this year as the government struggling to sustain its subsidy regime amid rising oil prices in the global market.
The situation has been compounded by a decline in oil revenue caused by theft of oil from pipelines and vandalization of facilities in the main oil producing region, the Niger Delta.