Tinubu and Okonjo-Iweala Brainstorm Solutions as petrol price set to increase to N700 per litre

• President Bola Ahmed Tinubu sat with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to discuss some of the challenges facing Nigerians
• One of the subjects of discussion is the impact of the rising price of petrol across the country on Nigerians’ standard of living
• This brainstorming session comes amid projections that global crude oil prices are set to increase again, pushing the petrol price nearer to N700 per litre

The impact of the removal of the petrol subsidy on Nigerians constituted the central focus of the discussion between President Bola Tinubu and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Director-General of the World Trade Organization, on Tuesday, August 8, 2023.

Throughout the conversation, various solutions were proposed to mitigate the situation, which is causing a rise in the cost of living in Africa’s largest economy, Reuters reports.

Okonjo-Iweala, who is on a private visit to her home country, after the meeting told journalists that the talks were focused on immediate community programs.

She also revealed that discussions around creating jobs for young people and women which she said are the most affected.

Her words:

“We are already working in Nigeria with women in particular, who own small and medium enterprises, to try to help them upgrade the quality of their products, whether it’s in agricultural, textiles, and in other areas so that they can sell more internationally.

“We are going to try to do the most we can to support Nigerians at this particular time.”

Fuel subsidy

You will recall that President Tinubu announced the removal of the petrol subsidy and also the floating of the naira.

Despite the criticism from Nigerians due to the rising cost of living, Tinubu strongly believes that the reforms are necessary to save the country’s future.

Petrol prices to increase

Meanwhile, in an earlier report, Legit.ng revealed that the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and the production output cuts by Saudi Arabia have resulted in rising crude oil prices.

With the removal of the petrol subsidy, pump prices in the country are now highly vulnerable to developments in the global oil community.

It is anticipated that an increase in crude oil prices could lead to higher costs for importing petrol into the country, prompting marketers to pass on the increased costs to Nigerians.

This could potentially result in pump prices rising to as high as N700 per litre.

Nationwide protest: NLC exposes FG over claim of saving N1trn on subsidy removal

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has refuted President Bola Tinubu’s claim that over N1 trillion has been saved since his government stopped paying for fuel subsidy.

Speaking during the ongoing nationwide protest of organised labour, Comrade Joe Ajaero, the NLC president, said the Federal Government’s committee put together to negotiate with the unions revealed that no money was saved since the subsidy was removed.

Source: Legit.ng