Nigeria’s Daily Petrol Consumption Slides to 4.5 million Litres

By Adedapo Adesanya

The latest revelation that Nigeria’s daily consumption of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) or petrol in Nigeria has plunged heavily under President Bola Tinubu has raised fresh worries about the country’s economy.

According to a report first carried out by Channels Television, based on the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Product Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) Daily Truck Out Report, the consumption of the product as of August 20, 2024, was 4.5 million litres per day.

The daily petrol consumption as of May 2023 was 60 million litres per day, according to the NMDPRA.

The media outlet’s estimation brings daily consumption down by 92 per cent after May 29, 2023.

It was revealed that 20 out of the 36 states of the federation did not get the allocation from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited in August 2024.

This meant that those states that did not get product allocation suffered scarcity in the month under review, leaving 16 only to get quotas.

The NMDPRA data also gave a breakdown of how the state oil company distributed the products among the 16 states.

It showed that Niger got the highest allocation of 21 trucks, amounting to 940,000 litres daily, Lagos followed with 12 trucks, amounting to 726, 001 litres, and Kaduna got 12 trucks of 454,001 litres.

Other states such as Oyo got 12 trucks of 454,000 litres, and Kano got nine trucks, Ondo and Kwara also received six trucks each.

Edo, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)and Sokoto State received four trucks each from the NNPC Limited.

Ogun state got three trucks same as Osun with three, while Gombe, Benue, Ekiti, and Kebbi, all received one truck respectively.

This development has raised worries about the purchasing power of Nigerians, which has dwindled further since the beginning of President Bola Tinubu’s entrance into office.

As part of his first duties, the President removed fuel subsidies and promised to save over N1 trillion to be utilised in critical sectors.

According to the President, payment of petrol subsidies was no longer sustainable as it had plunged the country into huge debts.

However, this translated to increased cost in amenities as the price of petrol has since skyrocketed from N195 per litre to over N1,000 per litre.

Headline inflation hit a 28-yeat high of 34.19 per cent in June. It has since moderated to 32.7 per cent in September, but still far from the 21.4 per cent target.

More Nigerians have also been pushed into poverty in the last five years, with the World Bank saying 129 million Nigerians are now poor compared to 115 million in 2018.