Fuel Now Available at N145 per litre, APC Leader Tinubu Reacts

National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has described the decision of the President Buhari-led Federal Government to remove petrol subsidy as courageous. Tinubu said though the decision was a difficult one, it would ultimately become beneficial to the generality of the people instead of enriching the pockets of a few Nigerians, who enjoyed the fraud of the subsidy regime. In fact, the subsidy removal worked like magic in Lagos and some Nigerian states on Thursday as long queues disappeared at petrol filling stations, we visited many filling stations and they were free. At filling stations in Ikeja, Mushin and Ikorodu Road, among others, petrol was being sold. Some known for “good metering” had queues of about five to 10 vehicles. Others were empty and motorists drove in and out freely. Few filling stations were not selling because, the attendants said, they have no fuel. As expected, some commercial buses and taxis have increased their fares to cover for the new price. The removal of subsidy was praised by many Nigerians, particularly those in the manufacturing and operators of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as they need not labour to access fuel, there are concerns that with the state of the Naira, some marketers may still sell above N145 per litre. But spokesman ofMobil Oil Plc,Akin Fatunke said the N145 per litre template is enough for any marketer who is not greedy. According to him, the government factored the cost of forex acquisition, logistics needs and marketers’ margins into the new price. The new price can only increase if there is a major economic depression, which will make the price of dollar soar far more than it is now or if the price of crude rises very high. He said: “At this point in time, if we put everything together in terms of Platts, logistics and other things, the new price is okay. Any reasonable, efficient and proactive businessman can make profit with the new price template despite the cost of securing forex, importing and clearing from the ports.” Any marketer who sells above N145 should be seen as a cheat. No excuse to cheat Nigerians anymore.