Nigeria at the moment is in no mood currently for any increase in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly called petrol, which will certainly be a direct result of any government decision to go for the removal of fuel subsidy in the country.

The mood of the nation occasioned by the current hardship in the country will not welcome such a move by government.

Also removing the fuel subsidy and allowing the rise in PMS pump price at this time when governments all over the world are looking for ways to ameliorate the hardship faced by their citizens will be very insensitive.

These were disclosed by Nigeria`s Minister of Communication and Culture, Lai Mohammed in a recent interview with Reuters in London, United Kingdom.

According to him, “When you consider the chaos, the social disharmony and … instability such an action (abolishing subsidies) would facilitate, is it worth it? I don’t think so,” the Minister said.

Background

Nigeria have been suffering from fuel scarcity in the recent times, which though, a recurring decimal in the history of the country, but it has worsened recently.

The scarcity of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly called petrol, have consequently led to massive rise in the price of the product around the country, when and where it is found at all.

This is a direct consequences of the widespread corruption in the country petroleum sector, especially within the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the country`s national petroleum company, and the sector regulator.

This corruption inherent in the sector has made it impossible for Nigeria to refine its own crude, which it produces in abundance, leading to the importation of almost all Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) consumed locally in the country.

This situation makes Nigeria directly and instantly vulnerable to economic changes in the global oil & gas market, especially with regards to changes in the United States dollars, which is always on the rise against Nigerian Naira.

Takeaway

In the run up to the 2023 elections, it will be politically suicidal for the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) to oversee the removal of fuel subsidy, which will lead to immediate skyrocketing in the price of the PMS in the country.

The backlash would almost certainly cement the fate of the APC and their candidate, an outcome that neither President Buhari, nor his the APC chieftains will support, and would rather prefer to allow the treasury continue to drain in the face of fuel subsidy pressure and the corruption associated with it.