Africa Press-Nigeria:<\/p>\n
Tempers have risen in Nigeria along with prices after the oil-rich nation dumped a controversial petrol subsidy system in the face of a coronavirus budget crunch.<\/p>\n
The cost of fuel at the pump has risen by around 15 percent in recent days, hitting a record high of 162 naira per litre ($0.42, 0.36 euros), or $1.55 \/ 1.36 euros a US gallon, after the government pushed on with deregulation.<\/p>\n
While such prices may sound cheap in many countries, the hike is a major blow to cash-strapped consumers who see cut-price petrol as one of the few tangible benefits they get from their dysfunctional leadership.<\/p>\n
“We feel it seriously,” complained engineer John Kayode as he drew up at a petrol station in central Lagos.<\/p>\n
“Fuel is a necessity. And the price hike is affecting every sector.”<\/p>\n
People in Africa’s most populous country, where almost half of the 200 million population live in extreme poverty, have for years relied on the artificially inexpensive fuel.<\/p>\n
Despite being the continent’s biggest crude producer, Nigeria has almost no working refinery capacity and the authorities have spent tens of billions of dollars to subsidise imports.<\/p>\n
Now the government says the global economic slump sparked by the coronavirus pandemic means it simply can’t afford it anymore.<\/p>\n
Authorities announced an end to the subsidies earlier this year, as falling oil prices robbed Nigeria of a major chunk of its revenues.<\/p>\n
Increasing the pain for average Nigerians, the government has also almost doubled the cost of electricity from 33 to more than 60 naira per kilowatt.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Africa Press-Nigeria: Tempers have risen in Nigeria along with prices after the oil-rich nation dumped a controversial petrol subsidy system in the face of a coronavirus budget crunch. The cost of fuel at the pump has risen by around 15 percent in recent days, hitting a record high of 162 naira per litre ($0.42, 0.36 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":29893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,15],"tags":[565],"class_list":["post-29890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-fuel-subsidy"],"yoast_head":"\n