MORE than two months after President Bola Tinubu extinguished petrol subsidies a month ahead of schedule, he has been largely silent on the fate of the four moribund state-owned refineries. At his inauguration on May 29, his “subsidy is gone!” blast triggered record-breaking petrol prices across the country. Like his predecessors, Tinubu has misdiagnosed Nigeria’s energy predicament: a major crude exporter with current production OPEC quota of 1.8 million barrels per day, it irrationally imports refined petroleum products because its refineries are comatose. Prices soared to between N568pl and N617pl in July on the back of higher crude oil prices. Tinubu, a former oil sector executive, should realise that the real catastrophe is Nigeria’s dependence on refined petroleum products.

Source: Punch August 10, 2023 03:48 UTC