The Social Democratic Party (SDP) Presidential Candidate, Prince Adewole Adebayo has warned that the price of Premium Motor Spirit PMS popularly known as petrol could hit ₦5,000 per litre if President Bola Tinubu gets a second term in office.
Adebayo in a press statement stated the economic policies of the present administration, especially the full deregulation of the petroleum downstream industry and the continued floating of the Naira had put Nigeria’s economy on a hyper-inflationary road.
Without a fundamental policy change, he claimed, a second term under the present construct will surely push fuel costs to levels once considered unimaginable.
Adebayo hinged his warning on the loop of currency devaluation and explained the economic factors and projections.
“Nigeria imports petrol and it is priced in United States Dollars ($). “The currency will continue to weaken as the Central Bank allows the Naira to float without strong local production to back it. Download Interactive Map
‘If the currency rate goes to ₦3,500 to $1 in the next few years, the landing cost of fuel alone will be over ₦4,000. You can’t have economy-illiterates governing your country and expect the people not to suffer. They do not know how to govern a developing economy in the complicated dynamics of the modern world. “The realities are faster than their capabilities can operationalise,” he remarked.
On the termination of all subsidies, Adebayo added, “The current policy completely eliminates the government’s ability to cushion international oil price shocks. If there is a jump in global crude prices owing to geopolitical concerns, Nigerian consumers would shoulder 100% of the expense at the pump. This automatically begins a compounded inflation spiral.
Higher gasoline costs are driving up inflation in transport. Transport inflation feeds food inflation. This vicious cycle diminishes the Naira’s purchasing power and forces merchants to increase their prices just to cover operational costs and break even.
“The high interest rates of the Central Bank means oil marketers are borrowing at crazy interest rates to finance imports. “These financing fees, along with the decaying port and distribution infrastructure, add hundreds of Naira in hidden costs to every litre of fuel.”
Adebayo stated that the current difficulty is not an accident but the expected effect of adopting “foreign IMF-style models” over citizen-centered economics.
“We cannot run an economy on taxes, subsidy removal and currency devaluation without producing anything internally,” Adebayo said.
“A ₦5,000 fuel price is not a myth, it is basic mathematics when you look at the direction the Tinubu administration is walking. If Nigerians do not demand a change in economic mindset, the pump price will catch up with this fact sooner than expected.” Hire Grant Writers
When voted into power next year, my administration would quickly resuscitate local refining capacity through transparent public-private models, and re-introduce targeted cushions to safeguard normal Nigerians from economic collapse,” the SDP Presidential Candidate said.
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