”It makes no sense for oil to be cheaper in Nigeria than in Saudi Arabia.” – President Buhari

Nigeria’s President, Muhammed Buhari, has stated that ”It makes no sense for oil to be cheaper in Nigeria than in Saudi Arabia”.

The President made this known in his message to Nigerians on the celebration of the county’s 60th Independence Day Anniversary.

Read excerpts from the post below ;

Fellow Nigerians,

​I speak to you today as your President and fellow citizen on this epoch occasion of our country’s 60th independence Anniversary.

Fellow Nigerians, to achieve the great country we desire, we need to solidify our strength, increase our commitment and encourage ourselves to do that which is right and proper even when no one is watching.

As a government, we remain committed to our constitutional oath of securing the lives and properties of the citizenry. I, however, call on the citizenry to also support government by providing the necessary community level intelligence in addressing these challenges.

Sixty years of nationhood provides an opportunity to ask ourselves questions on the extent to which we have sustained the aspirations of our founding fathers. Where did we do the right things?Are we on course? If not where did we stray and how can we remedy and retrace our steps?

Fellow Nigerians, in addition to public health challenges of working to contain the spread of the Coronavirus, we have suffered a significant drop in our foreign exchange earnings and internal revenues due to 40 per cent drop in oil prices and steep drop in economic activities, leading to a 60 per cent drop in government revenue.

Our government is grappling with the dual challenge of saving lives and livelihoods in face of drastically reduced resources.

Fellow Nigerians, let us collectively resolve to continue our journey beyond the sixty years on the clear understanding that as a nation we are greater together than being smaller units of nationalities.

In this regard, sustaining the level of petroleum prices is no longer possible.

Petroleum prices in Nigeria are to be adjusted. We sell now at N161 per litre.

A comparison with our neighbours will illustrate the point;

a.Chad which is an oil producing country charges N362 per litre

b.Niger, also an oil producing country sells 1 litre at N346.

c.In Ghana, another oil producing country, petroleum pump price is N326 per litre.

Fellow Nigerians, to achieve the great country we desire, we need to solidify our strength, increase our commitment and encourage ourselves to do that which is right and proper even when no one is watching.

Further afield, Egypt charges N211 per litre. Saudi Arabia charges N168 per litre. It makes no sense for oil to be cheaper in Nigeria than in Saudi Arabia.

By the special grace of God we shall come through any transient challenges