Nigeria’s petrol price among world’s top 10 cheapest
Nigeria’s $0.40 per litre puts it among top 10 cheapest places to buy petrol in the world. Neighbouring Ghana sells petrol for $1.04.
Some countries on the list of top 10 cheapest places to buy petrol in the world include: Venezuela, $0.01; Iran, $0.29; Sudan, $0.34; Kuwait, $0.35 and Algeria, $0.36, data from GlobalPetrolPrices.com show.
In the past ten years, Nigeria has being adjusting the price of petroleum products upwardly with the aim of eliminating fuel consumption subsidy in accordance to the free market system. This has so far been unsuccessful.
The Federal Government said it had exited the era of subsidy payment on imported premium motor spirit (PMS), data from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) pointed to an under-recovery of N190.314 billion between January 2017 and January 2018.
Under-recovery is described as the losses that oil companies incur due to the difference between the subsidised price at which oil-marketing companies sell certain products and the price, which they should have received for meeting their cost of production.
| Presidency | Date | Price | Percentage Decrease/Increase |
| Abubakar | Jan 6,1999 | N25 to N20 | 25% Decrease (D) |
| Obasanjo | June 1, 2000 | N20 to N30 | 50% Increase (I) |
| Obasanjo | June 8, 2000 | N30 to N22 | 26.67% (D) |
| Obasanjo | Jan 1, 2002 | N22 to N26 | 18.18% (I) |
| Obasanjo | June, 2003 | N26 to N42 | 61.54% (I) |
| Obasanjo | May 29, 2004 | N42 to N50 | 19.05% |
| Obasanjo | Aug 25, 2004 | N50 to N65 | 30% (I) |
| Obasanjo | May 27, 2007 | N65 to N75 | 15.39% (I) |
| Yar’ Adua | June, 2007 | back to N65 | 15.39% (D) |
| Jonathan | Jan 1,2012 | N65 to N141 | 116.92% (I) |
| Jonathan | Jan 17, 2012 | N141 to N97 | 31.21% (D) |
| Jonathan | Feb, 2015 | N97 to N87 | 10.31% (D) |
| Buhari | May 11, 2016 | N87 to N145 | 66.67% (I) |
Timeline of petrol price changes, Source: BusinessDay