Nigeria‘s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, recently said that he will not feel bad to buy petrol at N300 per litre.

He made this statement during the 16th edition of the President Muhammadu Buhari Administration Scorecard (2015–2023).

The former Bayelsa State governor was responding to a question on whether Nigeria could achieve N40 per litre pricing for petrol.

‘Haba na’!

That was my immediate reaction to the minister’s comment considering the present situation of our country’s economy.

Let’s hear what the minister said at the event.

‘The N40 per litre pricing is not something that is realistic. But, as you asked me, how I would feel as a private citizen to buy petroleum product at N300 per litre; frankly, I would say I won’t feel bad knowing the kind of situation and if you compare Nigeria to other countries, then, you would also understand’, he responded.

This government actually ought to be apologising to Nigerians for the sorry state of the country’s economy.

It should be regarded as a failure on the part of the federal government that although Nigeria is a large crude oil producer, diesel and other petroleum products are still imported.

Nigeria’s oil production

Data from Statista shows that Nigeria was the leading oil producer in Africa as of 2021.

As of December 2022, an Insider Monkey report showed that our country ranked 11th position on a top-20 list of countries with the largest proven oil reserves – with oil reserves as of 2021 reaching 36.89 billion barrels.

This is enough reason why citizens should not be made to pay dearly to be able to get petrol in the country.

Unfortunately, as it stands, the capacity of local refining is low because refineries in the country are all but inactive.

The medium-term hope for Nigeria is that private refineries coming up will increase local refining capacity.

Part of what the minister said was that the federal government hopes for the Dangote refinery to begin operations in 2023 in order to increase the country’s ability to refine its oil.

‘We are hoping Dangote refinery comes on stream this year and once our own rehabilitated refineries start to work, we will be able to get the country wet (with petroleum products)’, he said.

As the prices of petrol and diesel continue to increase, the effect is evident in the economy because it leads to an increase in production and distribution costs for goods and services which leads to hyperinflation.

Half the Nigerian population is poor. That is enough for the minister and the federal government to feel bad.

The government needs to create policies that will result in positive energy outcomes for the country’s growth.

Photo source: Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission