Nigerian press zooms in on 25% hike in petrol price, others

APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The report that the NNPC Ltd yesterday jerked up the price of petrol by about 25 per cent to N617 per litre without notice, throwing millions of Nigerians into panic dominates the headlines of Nigerian newspapers on Wednesday.
The Guardian reports that less than 24 hours after the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released data about the June inflation, which rose to its highest in close to two decades, marketers of the premium motor spirit (PMS), yesterday, jerked up the price by about 25 per cent to N617 per litre without notice, throwing millions of Nigerians into panic.
The increase came less than two months after President Bola Tinubu, in his ‘subsidy is gone meme’, removed the age-long social scheme and declared the downstream sector deregulated.
The cost of commuting responded spontaneously, especially in urban areas, in some cases by as much as 50 per cent – demonstrating the instantaneous effect of fuel price on the prices of essential services.
Experts, including the former head of the NBS, had warned that subsidy removal could cause year-on-year (y/y) changes in inflation to 30 per cent in June. The projection came before the floating of the naira, which has caused an over 60 per cent rise in the exchange rate.
Amid widespread doubt about the credibility of the June inflation update on Monday, NBS explained that “the June consumer price index (CPI) numbers may not have fully captured the impact of the fuel subsidy removal and the unification of the exchange rate” as the data used stopped at the middle of the referenced month. The NBS added that the new prices would be seen in the numbers of the subsequent months starting from July.
The new fuel increase and steep fall of the naira in the past two weeks may have only added fresh fuel to the inflation concern, which stakeholders said could trigger social upheavals in the coming months. The situation could also compound the woes of the unemployed and private sector workers, whose demand for pay raise is extremely inelastic and kneecapped by the poor performance of the economy and high rate of employment.
The misery index, a metric that determines the overall economic performance of an average citizen, experts have also warned, could also spike in the coming months and undermine whatever long-term gains the ongoing reforms hold for the country.
The newspaper says that the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) said the demand for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) has dropped by over 35 per cent since the removal of subsidy.
According to the Chief Executive Officer, NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, the daily PMS truck out has reduced significantly to about 47 million litres per day from 66 million litres per day in May.
At a meeting with Petroleum Products Marketers in Lagos, Ahmed said since the announcement of subsidy removal by President Ahmed Tinubu on May 29 this year, the Authority encouraged all the marketing companies interested in importing PMS to get license to import petroleum products, saying about 56 oil marketing companies had so far obtained license to import PMS but only 10 out of the 56 had shown commitment.
“Out of those 10, three of them have already landed cargoes and they are Prudent Energy, AY Ashafa and Emadeb, but 11plc and others are also indicating interest to import in August and September.
“So, this is just to encourage them to import so that they can compete with NNPC in the market because the market is open for all to compete and we want to encourage all the marketing companies to come in and continue their normal businesses in this sector,” he urged.
He noted that the new development would allow end users to choose where to buy their petroleum products since it is a free and open market.
“They have a choice where they go to because if NNPC being the sole importer continues to import then that would mean they have an advantage, but we don’t want any dominant player in the market. So, we thought it will be nice to give them words of encouragement and ask them if there is any area that they need support from the regulator or the government so that we can encourage them to participate in importation”, he added.
He said going forward, the Authority would continue to monitor oversight of the industry as well as increase its partnership with the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council (FCCPC) to protect consumers’ interest from undue advance from oil marketers.
The Punch reports that the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Central Bank of Egypt have signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a Nigeria-Egypt FinTech Bridge.
A statement said the signing ceremony, which took place at the Seamless North Africa 2023 conference at the Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo, on Monday, came after a series of engagements on issues around payment systems, financial technology, and financial inclusion in Africa.
Speaking at the event, the CBN Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability, Mrs Aishah Ahmad, who signed on behalf of the CBN, said the Bank was extremely excited by the partnership with the Central Bank of Egypt, which followed several months of engagement on payments, fintech and financial inclusion.
“We look forward to cultivating an innovative space for fintech startups and entrepreneurs in Egypt and Nigeria to accelerate financial inclusion, deepen our payment systems and drive economic growth across the African Continent,” Ahmad said.
Also speaking, the Deputy Governor of the Bank of Egypt, Mr Rami Aboulnaga, commended the MOU and expressed optimism that the partnership would yield the desired expectation.
“The groundbreaking partnership between the apex banks of the two largest economies in Africa encompasseD a broad range of collaborative initiatives, including joint regulatory innovation projects, coordinated licensing and supervisory frameworks, information sharing, fintech cross referrals and talent development,” the statement said.
The newspaper says that the House of Representatives, on Tuesday, resolved to set up an ad hoc committee to ask the Federal Character Commission to make available to it details of appointments undertaken by federal ministries, departments and agencies between 2015–2023 covering the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The resolution was made following the adoption of a motion titled, “Need to compel the Federal Character Commission to diligently discharge its constitutional and statutory mandate and responsibility,” moved by Paul Nnamchi during Tuesday’s plenary.
Nnamchi, who represents Isi-Uzo/Enugu East Federal Constituency, noted that the FCC Act was enacted in 1995 and enshrined in the 1999 Constitution with the primary responsibility to promote, monitor and enforce compliance with the principles of the equitable distribution of all bureaucratic, economic, media and political positions across all tiers of government.
According to him, no other Constitution in Nigeria’s history entrenched such regulatory body and vested same with powers to facilitate national integration through equitable, transparent and unbiased sharing of national wealth and public official positions.
The federal lawmaker lamented that 28 years after the enactment aimed at national cohesion and equal opportunities, and 24 years after its constitutional entrenchment, public perception is that there is an unchecked domination of bureaucratic, economic, media and political positions by a section of the country to the detriment of others.
GIK/APA