Presidential Candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo, has warned that the price of Premium Motor Spirit PMS, commonly known as petrol, could soar to N5,000 per liter if President Bola Tinubu secures a second term in office. Adebayo, in a Press Release by his Presidential Campaign's Chief Communications Adviser, Comrade Mark Adebayo, stated that the current administration's economic policies, specifically the full deregulation of the petroleum downstream sector and the continuous floating of the Naira, have set Nigeria's economy on a hyper-inflationary path.
Without a radical policy shift, he argued, a second term under the current framework will inevitably push fuel prices to heights previously thought impossible. 'Petrol in Nigeria is imported and priced in United States Dollars. As long as the Central Bank allows the Naira to float without strong local production backing it, the currency will continue to weaken. If the exchange rate hits N3,500 to $1 in the coming years, the landing cost of fuel alone will exceed N4,000.
You cannot have economy illiterates running your country and expect the people not to suffer. They don't understand how to run a developing economy in a complex modern global dynamics,' he said. On the removal of all subsidies: 'The current policy completely removes the government's ability to cushion international oil price shocks. High fuel costs drive up transport inflation.
Transport inflation drives up food inflation. High interest rates from the Central Bank mean oil marketers are borrowing at exorbitant rates to fund imports. These financing fees, alongside decaying port and distribution infrastructure, add hundreds of Naira in hidden costs to every liter of fuel.' 'We cannot run an economy purely on taxes, subsidy removal, and currency devaluation without producing anything internally.
A N5,000 fuel price is not a myth; it is basic mathematics based on the direction the Tinubu administration is walking.' The SDP Presidential Candidate said: 'When elected into office next year, my administration will immediately revive local refining capacity through transparent public-private models, and reintroduce targeted cushions to protect regular Nigerians from economic collapse.' Source: dailytrust.com
