Tinubu won’t abandon Nigerians amid rising petrol prices – Minister

The Federal Government has said President Bola Tinubu will not abandon Nigerians to bear the impact of rising petrol prices, defending the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s decision to forgo part of its profit to cushion the effects of the increase.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said this on Monday during a media briefing, where he noted that the intervention was intended to provide temporary relief to Nigerians amid rising global fuel prices, insisting that it did not amount to a reversal of the petrol subsidy removal policy.

Idris said the President was concerned about the pressure facing Nigerians and would not ignore the difficulties caused by unexpected developments in the international oil market.

“President Bola Tinubu is a listening president. He cannot just sit and see that his countrymen are facing pressure that they had not seen coming and then not do anything about it. In any case, the NNPC is a limited liability company,” Idris said.

He explained that the NNPC had considered reducing its profit margins to ease the burden on consumers, describing the decision as part of efforts to maintain energy security and cushion the impact of rising fuel prices.

“You look at issues, and then you come up with a mechanism to cushion the effect for our citizens. And so what the NNPC has done is they have looked at it and said, okay, we’re making this much profit, why can’t we forego some of the profit that we are making so that Nigerians will have some form of cushion?” he said.

The minister maintained that the intervention was a response to changing global conditions and should not be interpreted as a reversal of the subsidy removal introduced by the Tinubu administration.

“What we’re trying to do is to approach a matter that has arisen as a result of something that was not seen. When subsidy was removed, of course, the Iran-U.S. war didn’t exist. So at every time, government is a continuously evolving system,” Idris said.

He added that fuel pricing was not peculiar to Nigeria, noting that other countries were also responding to rising international petroleum prices.

“Fuel is an international commodity, if you will. Yes, of course, we dig it from our grounds here, but the marketing and sales of it follow some international dimensions. And if you follow what is happening in the Middle East now, you’ll have noticed that the price of fuel has not gone up only in Nigeria.

“It has gone up in so many other places. And governments around the world are responding to this issue in their own way. Now, the idea is that, yes, subsidy is in place, and I can confirm that this is not reversing the course of subsidy that was established since the onset of the administration of President Bola Tinubu.”

Idris said the NNPCL, although owned by the Federal Government, operated as a limited liability company and had the right to review its margins in the interest of national energy security.

“As we said, of course, it is owned by government. It is within its right to look at what their own margins are and in the interest of the energy security and stability that we need as a nation, create that kind of buffer so that Nigerians will have greater access to this commodity,” he said.

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The minister also defended the decision as a temporary measure to help consumers adjust to prevailing economic realities.

“NNPC is not just there to supply fuel. It is also there to ensure that there’s also energy security for our country because this is a critical component of national development.

“So if indeed they said, okay, we are shedding off some part of this cost so that Nigerians can at least adjust to the new realities that we are facing for a short period of time and then return to normal issues later, I don’t think that it is that bad. I think that these issues are always evolving,” he said.

The minister’s comments came as the government continued to defend its economic reforms amid persistent cost-of-living pressures on households.

Idris acknowledged that many Nigerians were still struggling with rising living costs but said the administration was working to ensure that improvements in economic indicators translated into better living conditions.

“We recognise that many households continue to face cost-of-living pressures. That is precisely why the President remains focused not only on stabilising the economy, but also on making the benefits of recovery visible in the daily lives of our people.

“Our commitment is to ensure that stronger economic indicators translate into more jobs, more productive businesses, more affordable essential services and greater purchasing power for Nigerian families,” he said.

He added that the government’s ultimate goal was to ensure that economic recovery was felt by households in their daily lives.

“Our task now is to ensure that this clear macroeconomic recovery is felt even more widely in the lives and households of Nigerians: on the dinner table, in shops and markets, at the petrol station, and in pockets and wallets. I am pleased to say that work is already under way,” Idris said.

The minister recalled that he had participated in engagements between the government and organised labour over the minimum wage, saying Tinubu had anticipated some of the issues raised during the negotiations.

“President Bola Tinubu has always insisted that labour and wages are things that we need to look at all the time. I recall that because I have been part of some of the engagements with organised labour.

“And I recall that in one of those meetings when we were going back and forth on the 70,000 minimum wage, one of the things that the labour wanted, and they didn’t know that the president had already anticipated and already thought about that, is what they call the circle of negotiation of what we will do,” Idris said.