New Fuel Price In Nigeria Highly Unacceptable, By Barr. Temitope Omotayo

It is highly unacceptable that the Federal Government will unilaterally increase the pump price of petroleum without considering the structural and negative effect on the whole economy of the nation and most importantly, the microeconomics of poor households in the country. 

As if that is not enough, electricity tariff was also increased around the same time. These will effectively suffocate Small and Medium Scale Enterprises/ Startup Businesses.

No wonder Nigeria is the poverty capital of the world, I believe the FG should be making policies that alleviate the suffering of the masses even in the mix of the COVID-19 pandemic where a lot of people have lost their means of livelihood.

Yes, deregulation of the oil sector may be good but not when Nigeria is still importing the oil.

We should only deregulate the sector after our refineries are working at optimal capacity.

We were made to know that when Dangote refinery commences operation, prices of the petroleum products will fall. So, we should wait until our refineries are working.

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The poor masses should not be the one to be suffering from inefficiency and corruption in the oil sector. FG should as a matter of urgency retrace its steps and revert back to pre-corona virus lockdown period. Otherwise, Nigeria's economy will be swimming majestically into recession.

By: Barrister Temitope Omotayo

Barrister Tope is an Economist and Legal Practitioner. He can be reached on [email protected].