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Nigeria’s government on Friday said fuel retailers could now buy gasoline directly from the Dangote Refinery.
Finance minister Wale Edun said state oil company NNPC will stop being the exclusive buyer of Dangote’s refined petrol. The new deal will allow independent retailers to buy directly from the refinery, which began rolling out petrol locally in September.
Fuel prices had begun to rise again in Lagos in the past week before the minister’s confirmation. Prices are now up to four times higher than they were before President Bola Tinubu took office in May 2023. Tinubu, at his inauguration, vowed to remove the country’s fuel subsidy, effectively allowing the price of petrol to be market driven.
Analysts say a form of subsidy had remained in place but petrol prices are now rising.
A longstanding fear in Nigeria is that fuel price hikes could trigger price increases in the real economy, especially for food and transportation.
— Alexander Onukwue in Lagos
