The Trade Union of Nigeria, TUC, has raised the alarm that the price of Premium Motor Spirit aka Petrol may climb to about N2,000 per litre if urgent measures are not taken to cushion the impact of rising global crude prices and the depreciating naira.
Speaking to newsmen on Thursday, April 9, the president of the TUC, Festus Osifo, called on the Federal Government to immediately deploy 60 percent of excess crude oil revenue above the 2026 budget benchmark to subsidise crude feedstock supplies to the Dangote Refinery and other modular refineries, a move it says will slash pump prices of petrol, diesel, and jet fuel within two weeks
“Today, comrades, we are seeing that the cost of petrol is edging towards N2,000 per litre depending on the part of the country that you are. Nigerian workers are already passing through excruciating pain as we speak.
The same way it is affecting transportation, it is also affecting manufacturing. The cost of diesel has also gone northward, meaning that the cost of production has increased. When production costs rise, the final price of goods on the shelves will also skyrocket.
If this continues unchecked, the inflation that we are currently celebrating as going downwards will reverse and start moving up again,” he stated.
Osifo outlined the proposal as an urgent intervention to cushion Nigerian workers from excruciating pain caused by petrol prices edging towards ₦2,000 per litre in some parts of the country
He explained that the 2026 Appropriation Act pegged the crude oil price benchmark at $64.85 per barrel, adding that with current international crude prices hovering around $100 per barrel due to the ongoing Middle East conflict and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the government is earning an excess of approximately $35.15 per barrel.
“Take at least 60 percent of that excess fund about $20 per barrel and use it to subsidise the crude that is being supplied to Dangote Refineries and all modular refineries that predominantly produce AGO (diesel)” Osifo stated
The TUC boss argued that subsidising crude feedstock at the production level, rather than finished products, eliminates the risk of diversion and abuse that plagued the previous fuel subsidy regime
“When you subsidise crude, it doesn’t have the ability to be abused because you are subsidising production directly. I can assure you that in the next one to two weeks, the price of PMS, AGO, and jet fuel will go down immediately”he said