West Africa: Petroleum Pricing in Nigeria - What's the Problem?

Open Society Initiative for West Africa (Dakar)

ANALYSIS

What's the Issue ?

Petroleum product pricing is a troubling issue in Nigeria and a major focus of numerous subsidy debates held in the country in the run up to the 2012 subsidy protests. The debates revealed that there was no common front/agreeable cost of refined petroleum, kerosene and diesel per litre in Nigeria. As a result, various agencies quoted different figures. Corruption seemingly thrived under these conditions in the subsidy programme.

What's the Report ?

The research report Pricing Of Petroleum Products in Nigeria has been produced under the project Transparency and Accountability in the Oil and Gas Sector in Nigeria. The project is being implemented by the African Center for Leadership and the Strategy and Development (Center LSD) with support from the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).

Download the report

What is the Report trying to do ?

The research sought to review the various computations and figures of pricing of petroleum products- petrol, kerosene and diesel. It undertook a comparative analysis of pricing of petroleum productsacross the world and gives an indication of the actual cost of petroleum products in Nigeria whether through importation or local production. The report provides the answers to these questions and provides recommendations on how best the country can manage its petroleum product pricing regime.

How does it help Nigerians ?

Principally the project aims to strengthen citizens' voice for accountability and reforms in Nigeria's oil and gas sector. Interventions under the project have been carefully designed to enable citizens to actively engage in oil and gas reform initiatives, such as the Petroleum Industry Bill(PIB) 2012, and to undertake advocacy for the recommendations of relevant sector reports, such as the fuel subsidy and KPMG reports on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), amongst others. Additionally, the project commissioned a research into petroleum product pricing in Nigeria. It also sought to engage major agencies in the oil and gas sector, the Nigerian legislature (National Assembly) and international actors to canvass for sector reform.

Joseph Amenaghawon is OSIWA's Economic Governance Program Coordinator based in the Abuja office.

Follow Joseph on Twitter @jogbosky