Nigerians React To Slash In Fuel Price!

With the current down turn in oil prices across the globe, which The Economist attributed to "weak economic activity, increased efficiency, and a growing switch away from oil to other fuels. Turmoil  in Iraq and Libya, two big oil producers with nearly 4m barrels a day combined—has not affected their output. The market is more sanguine about geopolitical risk. And America's emergence as the world’s largest oil producer. Though the U.S does not export crude oil, it now imports much less, creating a lot of spare supply. Finally, the Saudis and their Gulf allies have decided not to sacrifice their own market share to restore the price" .

To make matters Worse, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, (OPEC), after a meeting in Vienna, November 27, appeared determined not to curb oil price,  a situation that has sent the price of oil falling.

This is not so good for energy exporting  countries, where governments depend heavily on high oil price to pay for expensive foreign adventures and expensive social programmes. The Economists lists some of these nations as "Russia (which is already hit by Western sanctions following its meddling in Ukraine) and Iran (which is paying to keep the Assad regime afloat in Syria), Venezuela and Nigeria. 

The 18 January, 2015 slight slash in the cost of motor spirit fuel, by Nigerian Petroleum Minister, Diezani Madueke, is greeted with mixed reactions, as some groups out rightly criticized the reductions, saying the government should do better, considering the  global oil price. Among such groups is a Nigerian based Human Right Organization, "Committee for Democracy and Rights of the People"(CDRP). 

The group stated their disappointment in the federal government's mere N10 reduction, despite current global fall.

"The natural economic expectation of our organization is that the price of petroleum would drop in conformity with the current global fall in the price of the commodity. Therefore, it is strange and parochial to hear that the federal government is celebrating a paltry N10 reduction.

“A careful review of government action thus far has clearly shown that the federal government has not learnt from the aftermath of January 1st 2012 subsidy protest. They are about to impose a reverse subsidy on the populace. In case the government does not know, the main message of the 2012 protest was that there is a limit upon which government can take people for granted” Comrade Saka stated.

The group therefore emphasized that the government has no basis to keep the retail price of PMS at N87.

“The price of PMS must revert to N65 with immediate effect”. The group's  Acting National Coordinator, Comrade Saka Waheed stated.