Diesel prices rise 28.69% in one year—NBS

The average retail price of Automotive Gas Oil, popularly known as diesel, paid by consumers increased by 28.69 percent in one year as households and businesses battled to maintain operations.

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), diesel prices rose year-on-year from N654 to N842 per litre in April 2023. On a month-on-month basis, it increased by 0.17 percent from N829 per litre in January.

Nigerian businesses and households are having a hard time dealing with the rising cost of diesel, coupled with the current high inflation rate that increased by 22.22 percent

Abdulwahid Dolapo Adeleke, managing director of Biospheres Technologies Limited, a PSP operator, told BusinessDay that the high cost of diesel has led to an operational downturn.

“Operating at normal weekly frequencies per residence is not profitable for operators facing an almost 300 percent increment. The alternative is to reduce the collection frequency to two or three times per month instead of four,” Adeleke said.

According to the managing director, his company spends N400,000 to N500,000 monthly on diesel.

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Chinedu Onyegbula, an energy sector expert and director of Bullox Resources Limited said: “Diesel has been deregulated and therefore is prone to market forces and peculiarities, including global crude oil price shocks, foreign exchange fluctuations, shipping and logistical issues, and other market forces.”

“Worse, we still do not have refining capacity in Nigeria. With every hope and expectation, the Dangote refinery coming on stream might or should ease some of these shocks; however, we need to ensure and sustain efforts to increase and enhance our refining capacity, reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, and fix our foreign exchange irregularities,” he said.

According to NBS data, states with the highest average product price in April 2023 include Adamawa (N980), Bauchi (N934), and Borno (N900) per litre.

On the other hand, the lowest price was recorded in Bayelsa with N708, followed by Kebbi with N773 and Anambra with N773.

The zonal representation of the average price of diesel shows that North East has the highest price of N895.42 while South South has the lowest price N807.59 when compared with other zones.