Economy
Confusion Over Plans by FG to Retain Current Pump Price With Subsidy
By Adedapo Adesanya
The federal government has left some Nigerians confused over revelations by the presidency on Tuesday that the current pump price of N568 per litre in Lagos and N617/$1 in other parts of the country will remain despite concerns raised by oil marketers that the true price should be at N720 per litre.
A few days ago, it was reported that the price of petrol may increase to N720 per litre because the landing cost and others were now at about N651 per litre.
The tension caused by this forced the retail subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to allay the fears of consumers in a statement.
The state-owned oil firm said it was not planning to increase the pump price.
It was rumoured on Tuesday that the government of President Bola Tinubu was planning to adopt the method deployed by his Kenyan counterpart, Mr William Ruto, by introducing a temporary fuel subsidy to douse the tension.
But yesterday, Mr Ajuri Ngelale, the spokesman for President Tinubu, said there was no plan to return subsidy into the system.
He stressed that, “Mr President is convinced based on information before him that we can maintain current pricing without reversing our deregulation policy,” adding that this will be done “by swiftly cleaning up existing inefficiencies within the midstream and downstream petroleum sector.”
This move is coming after the inflation rate climbed to a fresh 18-year high as data on Tuesday from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that prices rose an annual 24.1 per cent in July, compared with 22.8 per cent in June.
The top contribution came from food and non-alcoholic beverages at 12.5 per cent, while housing, water, electricity, gas & other fuels contributed around 4.03 per cent, followed by clothing & footwear at 1.8 per cent, while transport amounted to 1.6 per cent of the surge in prices.
Mr Tinubu, during his inauguration in May, removed petrol subsidies, which cost the government N4.3 trillion last year.
He said the erstwhile administration of Muhammadu Buhari ensured that the 2023 budget did not have a provision for a fuel subsidy regime beyond June 30.
Some analysts have argued that if the real market pump price is N720 per litre and the government insists on selling the product at N568 per litre, it means subsidies are being paid to make citizens purchase petrol at a cheaper rate.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is seeking a reduction in import duty exemptions, which rose to N34 trillion, limiting its ability to increase its revenue generation threshold.
The Comptroller-General of the Customs Service, Mr Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed that the value of import duty exemption certificate approvals increased to that level in 2025, describing the policy as one of the major factors restricting its revenue generation.
At an investigative session of the Senate Committee on Finance with revenue-generating agencies in Abuja on Monday, Mr Adeniyi explained that government fiscal policies have continued to impact the revenue-generating capacity of the Customs Service, both positively and negatively.
“The NCS would have generated significantly higher revenue over the years if not for government-approved import duty waivers and other external factors affecting collections,” he said.
He added that the Import Duty Exemption Certificate scheme, introduced in March 2020, accounted for about N34 trillion in approvals in 2025, with nearly 60 per cent covering duty-free importation of military hardware due to Nigeria’s prevailing security challenges.
Other government-backed duty waivers, he noted, covered the importation of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), electric and hybrid vehicles, healthcare equipment and medical supplies, industrial machinery and manufacturing inputs, as well as food import intervention programmes.
While acknowledging the impact of the waivers on Customs revenue, Mr Adeniyi argued that fiscal policy should not be assessed solely on the basis of revenue generation but also on its broader economic and social objectives.
He, however, urged the federal government to establish stronger monitoring mechanisms to ensure beneficiaries of duty waivers deliver the intended economic outcomes, including lower consumer prices, increased local production and improved healthcare access.
The committee also expressed displeasure over the absence of several heads of government agencies invited to the hearing, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), and the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Mr Sani Musa, warned that the affected chief executives must appear at the committee’s next sitting or face severe sanctions under the Senate’s rules.
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By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.40 per cent on Monday, July 13, buoyed by buying interest in 11 Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and UBN Property Plc, which offset the profit-taking in Food Concepts Plc, the parent company of Chicken Republic.
11 Plc gained N20.69 to end at N227.64 per share compared with last Friday’s price of N206.95 per share, CSCS Plc grew by N1.83 to N91.48 per unit from N89.65 per unit, and UBN Property Plc added 1 Kobo to sell at N1.81 per share versus N1.80 per share.
On the flip side, Food Concepts Plc depreciated by 24 Kobo to close at N2.45 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N2.69 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation increased by N9.2 billion to N2.587 trillion from N2.578 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) improved by 15.33 points to 4,311.67 points from 4,296.34 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors surged by 615.9 per cent to 9.1 million units from the previous 1.3 million units, and the value of securities rose by 997.1 per cent to N320.4 million from the preceding session’s N29.2 million, while the number of deals decreased by 12.5 per cent to 28 deals from last Friday’s 32 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 73.9 million units exchanged for N5.2 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
