Petroleum marketers have said that President Bola Tinubu adopted the advice of Aliko Dangote, President of Dangote Group, in implementing the total removal of petrol subsidy.
President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association, PETROAN, Billy Gillis-Harry disclosed this in an interview with DAILY POST.
Gillis-Harry was commenting on the latest hike of the fuel pump price by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, to N1,030 from N897.
The latest hike in fuel price is the third in two months.
According to Gillis-Harry, the continued adjustments in fuel pump prices showed that the Nigerian Government under Tinubu has listened to Dangote’s call for total subsidy removal.
He, however, did not fault the move to hike the fuel pump price as he said it was in line with the deregulation of the oil and gas sector, as provided by the Petroleum Industry Act.
“If indeed we listen to Aliko Dangote’s request in his Bloomberg interview on the fact that the President should remove subsidy completely and deregulate the downstream sector, maybe this is one step to ensuring that the Petroleum Industry Act is implemented,” he said.
Recall that in September 2024, Dangote in an interview with Bloomberg, called on the Nigerian government to completely remove fuel subsidy.
The hike in fuel pump prices has been condemned by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC.
Also, the Centre For the Promotion of Private Enterprise said Nigeria is not ripe for a full-blown deregulation of the petroleum industry.
