Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, has defended Nigeria’s petrol pricing, saying Nigerians are already benefiting from local refining despite the product being sold at a price linked to the global market.
Speaking during an interview with journalist Seun Okinbaloye, Lokpobiri said Nigeria could not arbitrarily reduce petrol prices because the downstream sector is fully deregulated.
According to him, the fact that crude oil is produced and refined locally does not mean Nigerians can be insulated from international crude prices.
“Seun, we are already benefiting. That is why our price is lower than that of the US,” he said.
Lokpobiri pointed to the United States, which he described as one of the world’s highest producers of crude oil and one of the countries with the highest refining capacity, arguing that petrol is still more expensive there than in Nigeria.
“Today the price in the USA is higher than that of Nigeria,” he said.
When asked whether the Bola Tinubu administration has the power to reduce or increase petrol prices, the minister replied: “No, we don’t. Because it is completely deregulated in line with global best standards.”
Okinbaloye, however, questioned why Nigerians should still bear the impact of global crude prices and exchange rate movements when crude is produced in Nigeria, refined by Dangote Refinery and consumed locally.
“If crude is extracted in Nigeria, refined in Nigeria, consumed in Nigeria, why must the Nigerian consumer still bear almost the full shock of international crude prices and exchange rate movements?” he asked.
Lokpobiri maintained that pricing is determined by the global market, stressing that even oil producing countries such as Saudi Arabia sell crude to their refineries at global prices.
Pricing is global,he said, adding that Nigeria’s petrol price remains lower than the global benchmark and that the situation is not peculiar to Nigeria.
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