Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has criticised the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, over his comparison of petrol prices in Nigeria and the United States.
Atiku, through his media aide, Paul Ibe, described the minister’s argument as an example of how statistics can obscure economic reality when they are presented without considering income, purchasing power and the cost of living.
Lokpobiri had, during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today, defended Nigeria’s petrol prices, saying the country’s average pump price remained below that of the United States and some other countries. He cited an average Nigerian price of about ₦1,430 per litre against approximately ₦1,633 in the US.
“Our (petrol) price is lower than that of the US. The United States is the highest producer of crude oil and one of the countries with the highest level of refineries. Today the price in the US is higher than that of Nigeria,” Lokpobiri said.
The minister also argued that petrol pricing was driven by global market forces because crude oil and refined petroleum products were internationally traded commodities. He said Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector was fully deregulated and that the government could not arbitrarily reduce petrol prices without effectively returning to a subsidy regime.
Reacting, Ibe said the comparison failed to address what he described as the more important issue of affordability for ordinary Nigerians.
“Telling a Nigerian earning ₦70,000 a month that petrol is ‘cheaper’ because an American pays a higher dollar price per litre ignores the question that actually matters: how much petrol can each worker afford from their earnings?” Ibe said.
He argued that, at about ₦1,400 per litre, a Nigerian earning the ₦70,000 minimum wage could purchase only about 50 litres of petrol from a full month’s income.
By contrast, Ibe said four weeks of earnings at the US federal minimum wage could purchase roughly 981 litres of petrol at prevailing American pump prices.
“That is the comparison Nigerians should be looking at. Americans may pay a higher nominal price for petrol, but they also earn substantially more,” he said.
Ibe argued that Nigerians were purchasing petrol with incomes already under pressure from high food prices, transportation costs, rent, electricity bills and healthcare expenses, as well as the declining purchasing power of the naira.
He said the impact of expensive petrol also extended beyond filling stations because Nigeria’s heavy reliance on road transportation and petrol-powered generators meant increases in fuel prices could feed into transportation, food, production and other household expenses.
“So the real question is not whether a litre of petrol costs more in America. The real questions are: how many litres can the average Nigerian afford from his income? How much is left after food, rent and transportation? Absolutely nothing. Indeed, it leaves a deficit,” Ibe said.
He further questioned whether the average Nigerian household was better off under the current economic conditions, arguing that the affordability of petrol could not be established simply by converting pump prices into dollars and comparing them with prices in another country.
“Affordability is measured against income, purchasing power and the cost of living. Any comparison that leaves those out is economically incomplete,” he said.
Ibe therefore called on the Federal Government to present economic data that, according to him, would provide a clearer picture of the impact of petrol prices on Nigerians.
He said such figures should include petrol costs as a share of wages, real household income, food inflation, transportation costs, unemployment, poverty levels and purchasing power.
“Nigerians deserve economic arguments grounded in what families can actually afford, not comparisons that look reassuring only when wages and living costs are left out,” Ibe said.
He added that if the government wanted to defend its economic record, it should do so using broader cost-of-living indicators rather than international petrol-price comparisons.
“Those are the numbers that matter to ordinary Nigerians and not the ‘Animal Farm’ numbers being bandied by Tinubu and his officials,” Ibe said.
The exchange comes amid renewed public concern over petrol prices, which have recently risen to around ₦1,400 per litre in Lagos and Abuja, with prices reaching about ₦1,500 in some parts of northern Nigeria. Rising fuel costs have also intensified concerns over transportation, food prices and household purchasing power.
The Nigeria Labour Congress has similarly warned that rising petrol prices could worsen economic hardship, noting that higher transportation costs typically translate into increased prices for food, rent, school fees and other essential goods and services.