Human rights lawyer and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Olisa Agbakoba, has urged the Federal Government to reconsider its petroleum pricing policy, proposing a special domestic crude price that could bring petrol prices down to about N400 per litre.
The Punch reported that Agbakoba made the proposal in Lagos on Thursday at the annual conference of the National Association of Energy Correspondents, where he called on presidential candidates ahead of the 2027 elections to clearly state their positions on petroleum subsidy and domestic crude pricing.
He argued that the rising cost of petroleum products was contributing significantly to Nigeria’s cost-of-living crisis, stressing that Nigerians deserved to know how prospective presidential candidates intended to address the situation.
“There’s something called subsidy. Is it a burden? We have a number of presidential candidates. Can we please ask them what they intend to do about subsidy? It’s a big issue. I was telling my colleague yesterday, in 2023, there was a particular medication I bought for pain at N800. Now, I buy it for N20,000. The problem is that some of the presidential candidates have changed their views on subsidy. And I see that we are at a conference that concerns crude oil pricing.
“So, what should be the appropriate price for crude? I challenge your conference to educate Nigerians, because it is connected to their current cost of living challenges. Now, President Tinubu said subsidy is gone. Did he say that subsidy is gone for a particular context? The context was, and I agree with him, the subsidy in the past was full of corruption. And therefore, it’s gone. But he didn’t say that he would not consider a new price differential.
“Therefore, what will the presidential candidates say to us? Who will receive our votes? Will they be prepared to tell us that if they become elected, the price differential for crude locally will be $40, even if it is $100 or whatever internationally? And therefore, we can buy our petrol for N400. Wouldn’t that be good news? Please push that agenda,” Agbakoba said.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria explained that his proposal would require crude supplied to the domestic market to be priced differently from crude sold internationally, irrespective of movements in global crude prices.
He said such an arrangement could lower petrol prices and reduce the financial pressure on households, while encouraging energy journalists to help Nigerians understand the connection between crude pricing and the wider cost-of-living crisis.
“Let us get that. Because I always think my speciality is called development law, which is looking at how law impacts any aspect of the economy. So what is impacting Nigerians today is hunger.
“And the reason why Nigerians are hungry is that the price of petroleum is too high. So we should be looking at that presidential candidate who can make a statement that the crude oil price differential locally will be different. And you can fact-check it if you have your phones as to what Saudi Arabia does. Their price differential for the domestic market is different.
“If I’m a young farmer, I have 20 members in my family. And I produce 1,000 yams to sell to you. But I sell to my family. So I keep them aside. I sell to you at N400 and I sell to my family at N400, does it make sense? I’ll keep them free. It is in the national interest for a presidential candidate to tell us that the burden we face will be lifted. Because they’ll either give us petroleum free, or at least at an affordable cost. And my recommended affordable cost is N400.”
The former NBA president also criticised the current structure of the energy sector, arguing that the President should no longer simultaneously serve as the Minister of Petroleum.
Agbakoba advocated the creation of a single ministry responsible for the country’s major energy resources, including electricity, gas and crude oil.
“We are discussing energy, which is important. So, I’ll pose one or two issues that you can consider at your in-house process. Number one, the Nigerian president cannot be minister of petroleum. He can’t. Number two, it’s time to merge electricity, gas, crude into one overall ministry called the Ministry of Energy,” he advised.
He also expressed concern over the ongoing divestment of oil and gas assets by international oil companies, warning that investors could encounter challenges similar to those experienced by Nigeria’s electricity distribution companies if the assets were not properly examined before acquisition.
“This divestment that is taking place is going to be the same problem that the DisCos faced. You start to build a 20-storey building without a foundation. So, all these guys that have come here as sponsors, how many of them bothered to do legal inquiries for their assets? They just go to work. These are some of the issues you should think about,” he stated.
Agbakoba, who was honoured at the conference, maintained that energy policy should be viewed from the perspective of its impact on ordinary Nigerians rather than solely through the interests of oil companies and government revenue.
He urged the energy sector and the media to place the effect of petroleum pricing on households and businesses at the centre of discussions on Nigeria’s energy policies.
