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The National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) has said that with Dangote Refinery and others coming on board, Nigerians should expect a crash in the price of premium motor spirit, better known as petrol.
The product was sold for less than N200 per litre before the removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu; it currently sells for around N930 per litre, depending on the area.
However, the Director-General of NIPSS, Ayo Omotayo, says better days are ahead for the country.
“With the removal of the first subsidy, we have Dangote Refinery coming on. We have the other refineries. The refinery in Port Harcourt has worked continuously for 110 days if I’ve counted right! These are the short-term gains,” Omotayo said, on Tuesday when he was featured on Television’s programme, The Morning Brief monitored by Rocketparrot News.
“We are buying fuel a little bit more expensive, but as we predict at the national institute that if we continue with what we are currently doing, fuel, by itself, will come down. We’re looking at it coming down as low as N750 before the end of the year. And of course, foreign exchange, we believe, will still drop to about 1.3 before the end of the year.” and it will continue like that as more of our refineries come into place. We will become a net exporter in the long run.
“The gains at this time are very little, but then, in the long run, we will make up for whatever sacrifices we have made today as Nigerians.” For the NIPSS DG, the subsidy removal was timely as Nigeria was on the verge of collapse.
“So for us at the National Institute, it was a very timely step that Mr President took, and it has come a long way in saving Nigeria,” he said.
