According to the Federal Government, 11.26 billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol, were consumed nationwide in the first half of 2023.
However, it was noted that PMS consumption decreased by an average of about 18.5 million litres per day in June after the removal of the petrol subsidy, which was announced by President Bola Tinubu on May 29, 2023.
Data obtained on Sunday from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority in Abuja revealed that during the pre-deregulation period, which ran from January 1 to May 28, 2023, the nation’s total gasoline consumption was 9.9 billion litres.
The country consumed 66.9 million litres of gasoline daily on average during the five months when gasoline subsidies were still in effect, according to the 148-day period’s average consumption, which was calculated at 66.9 million litres.
However, data from the Federal Government agency showed that during the post-deregulation period, which was defined as June 1 to June 28, 2023, the nation as a whole consumed 1.36 billion litres of petrol, with an average daily consumption of 48.43 million litres.
According to our correspondent’s analysis of the data, there was a difference of about 18.5 million litres between the average monthly consumption figures for the pre- and post-deregulation eras.
This implies that, after the Federal Government stopped providing subsidies for certain commodities, the average daily consumption of gasoline decreased across the nation by about 18.5 million litres.
However, it was noted that on a few days, the consumption of petrol exceeded 100 million litres, while on a few other days, it was below 10 million litres.
According to a random sample of the NMDPRA report’s fuel consumption data, Nigerians consumed 103.6 million litres of petrol on March 8; 105.02 million litres on April 20; and 101.9 million litres on May 16.
These were the pre-deregulation days because, according to data collected after the deregulation, the nation’s total consumption for the 28 days covered by the document never exceeded 78.84 million litres.
In fact, the 78.84 million litres consumed on June 20 were the most during the post-deregulation era, while the 470,000 litres consumed nationwide on June 11 represented the lowest total during that time.
According to NAEE, subsidies fueled unethical behaviour.
The fuel subsidy regime, according to Prof. Yinka Omorogbe, President of the Nigeria Association for Energy Economics, opened doors for heinous behaviour.
Oil marketers as well as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited had repeatedly complained that during the time when the product was being subsidised, Nigerian petrol was being smuggled to neighbouring countries.
In a press conference to announce the 16th annual NAEE conference, Omorogbe said that removing fuel subsidies was the right thing to do despite the negative effects.