The Federal Government has said that it consumed 11.26 billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, across the country in the first half of 2023.
It was, however, observed that after the removal of subsidy on petrol, following the pronouncement by President Bola Tinubu on May 29, 2023, PMS consumption reduced by an average of about 18.5 million litres daily in June.
Data obtained on Sunday from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority in Abuja, on Sunday, showed that between January 1 and May 28, 2023, which was the pre-deregulation period, the total amount of petrol consumed nationwide was about 9.9 billion litres.
During the five-month period when subsidy on petrol was still in place, the country consumed an average of 66.9 million litres of petrol daily, indicating that the average consumption for the 148-day period was put at 66.9 million litres.
But the Federal Government agency’s figures indicated that during the post-deregulation period from June 1 to June 28, 2023, the total petrol consumption across the country was 1.36 billion litres, with an average daily consumption of 48.43 million litres.
An analysis of the data by our correspondent showed that the difference between the average monthly consumption figures during the pre-deregulation and post-deregulation periods was about 18.5 million litres.
This implies that the Federal Government’s decision to stop the subsidy on the commodity resulted in a reduction of about 18.5 million litres in the average daily consumption of petrol across the country.
It was, however, observed that petrol consumption rose above 100 million litres in some days, while it fell to below 10 million litres in few other days.
A random pick of petrol consumption figures contained in the NMDPRA report, for instance, showed that on March 8, April 20, and May 16, Nigerians consumed 103.6 million litres, 105.02 million litres, and 101.9 million litres respectively.
These were during the ore-deregulation days, as figures from the post-deregulation period indicated that the country never consumed beyond 78.84 million litres all through the 28-day period captured in the document.
In fact, the highest consumption figure during the post-deregulation period was on June 20, where the country consumed 78.84 million litres, while the lowest figure during the same period was on June 11, where nationwide consumption amounted to 470,000 litres.
Subsidy caused terrible practices, says NAEE
The President, Nigeria Association for Energy Economics, Prof. Yinka Omorogbe, said the fuel subsidy regime created avenues for terrible practices.
Both the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and oil marketers had repeatedly complained during the period when the commodity was subsidized that Nigeria’s petrol was being smuggled out of the country to neighboring nations.
Omorogbe, who spoke to journalists in Abuja, while announcing forthcoming 16th annual conference of the NAEE holding in Abuja, said the removal of fuel subsidies was a right step despite the harsh impact.