Reports reaching the desk of Africa Today News, New York has it that petrol prices have almost doubled in Benin following the announcement earlier in the week that fuel subsidies would be scrapped in next-door Nigeria.
Nigeria is one of Africa’s oil giants and subsidised petroleum products are routinely smuggled into Benin, where they’re mostly sold by the roadside and serve a large part of the population
Popularly called kpayo – which means ‘unoriginal’ in Goun, a native language – it is cheaper than fuelling up at stations, local media IN Benin Republic reported.
Nigeria’s new President Bola Tinubu had in his inauguration speech said fuel subsidy was “gone”, an announcement that triggered panic-buying and a surge in fuel prices.
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It was later clarified that it would be phased out in the coming weeks.
In another report, as criticisms continue to drop following the fuel subsidy removal policy of the federal government, the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), has lampooned President Bola Tinubu’s decision to remove the highly sensitive subsidy.
Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed who is the spokesman of the forum said Tinubu’s decision does not give his administration a good start.
Africa Today News, New York had earlier reported that during his inauguration on Monday, Tinubu had announced an end to the fuel subsidy regime.
The president had said money meant for fuel subsidy would be diverted to other infrastructural developments across the country
However, Baba-Ahmed lamented the skyrocketing price of fuel following Tinubu’s declaration.
Tweeting, Baba-Ahmed wrote: ‘Booby-trapped, or just plain lack of experience, the skyrocketing rise in prices of petrol following President Tinubu’s comment on the absence of budgetary provision for fuel subsidy does not give the new administration a good start.
‘Getting out will be tougher than staying put’, he submitted.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has expressed dismay over the declaration by the President that the subsidy scheme in place in the country is gone without consulting relevant stakeholders and putting in place adequate measures to cushion its effect on workers.