Fuel price: NNPCL petrol discount not return subsidy regime – CPPE

The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, CPPE, has defined why the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s (NNPCL) non permanent petrol value discount does not quantity to a return to the gas subsidy regime abolished by the Federal Government.

CPPE stated the initiative was a short lived intervention to cushion Nigerians in opposition to rising petroleum costs triggered by shocks within the international power market, somewhat than a reversal of the coverage of petroleum subsidy elimination.

The Chief Executive Officer of CPPE, Dr Muda Yusuf, acknowledged this in a coverage temporary issued on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, whereas addressing considerations that the gas value reduction initiative may undermine the federal government’s financial reforms.

According to Yusuf, the latest improve in petroleum costs was pushed largely by geopolitical tensions that pushed international crude oil costs above $100 per barrel, affecting each oil-producing and oil-importing nations.

He argued that the event was an exterior financial shock somewhat than a consequence of Nigeria’s subsidy elimination coverage.

“Such an interpretation is misleading and fails to distinguish between a fundamental policy reversal and a temporary intervention in response to an extraordinary economic shock,” Yusuf stated.

Explaining the distinction between the present initiative and the previous subsidy regime, CPPE stated the earlier association imposed a considerable fiscal burden on the federal government by subsidising nationwide petrol consumption, which was estimated at between 50 million and 90 million litres day by day at totally different occasions.

The financial group famous that the previous subsidy regime positioned important strain on public funds, crowded out growth spending and contributed to macroeconomic instability.

In distinction, CPPE stated the present intervention lined roughly 70 million litres of NNPCL’s gas provide month-to-month, in contrast with estimated nationwide petrol consumption of fifty million litres day by day.

“Reinstating a broad-based consumption subsidy would recreate serious fiscal vulnerabilities and consequential distortions in the economy,” Yusuf stated.

“The current fuel price relief initiative should be understood as a limited response to an extraordinary global energy shock, not a reversal of the policy on petroleum subsidy removal,” he added.