Nigeria’s fuel price relief has not yet translated into a nationwide retail rate of N1,000 per litre, the head of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association has said, arguing that pump pricing is still driven primarily by international market movements rather than local expectations.
Billy Gillis-Harry, president of the association, made the case in an interview on Monday after stakeholders in the country’s downstream oil sector met with the federal government on a cost-reflective approach to setting fuel prices. He explained that while industry participants and consumers have been pressing for deeper reductions, the “true” cost-reflective rate is ultimately shaped by conditions outside Nigeria.
Gillis-Harry said fuel pricing continues to rely heavily on global forces, pointing to the way crude benchmarks and related factors can shift quickly. He argued that attempts to anchor domestic prices to a single crude oil level do not reflect how pricing works in practice.
“The true cost-reflective price is still determined internationally,” he said, adding that Nigerians’ expectations that lower crude—citing a move to around $72 per barrel—should automatically flow through to the pump do not match real-world pricing mechanics.
He also highlighted ongoing volatility in crude markets, saying that even in the course of the recent talks, price swings were observed. “Even today, as we are sitting there, we were checking the price volatility. Price increased by $73 per barrel,” he said.
In reporting on the latest situation, the outlet noted that a decline in the gantry price for petrol supplied by Dangote Refinery—and for depot owners—has already pushed retail pump prices down to a range of N1,150 to N1,299 per litre in Abuja and surrounding areas.
Despite that reduction, Nigerians and the federal government have continued to call for further cuts, with Gillis-Harry’s comments underscoring the challenge of moving domestic prices to the N1,000 mark while international inputs remain unstable.
