2027: I’ll reduce petrol price to N300 per litre if elected, says Duke

Former Cross River State Governor and presidential candidate for the Peoples Redemption Party, Donald Duke, has vowed to lower the price of petrol to around N300 per litre if elected president in 2027. Duke proposed this change by altering the way domestic consumption petroleum products are priced, asserting that Nigerians should not have to pay international market prices for locally produced crude.

During an interview on Channels Television’s Morning Brief, Duke critiqued President Bola Tinubu's current subsidy system, calling it unsustainable, and advocated for pricing petrol based on actual production costs instead of international market rates. He argued that the actual cost of producing and refining petroleum for domestic use was considerably lower than the current international benchmark.

Duke estimated that the cost of production was approximately $45, while the international price—including processing and refining—was about $30, yet petrol was being sold back to Nigerians at a much higher price. He claimed that high petrol prices had exacerbated economic hardship, especially for workers and low-income households whose earnings are primarily consumed by transportation and energy costs.

Duke emphasized that the average Nigerian worker earning the basic minimum wage of 70,000 naira could barely afford to fill a tank of fuel, highlighting the dire economic situation faced by many Nigerians. Duke's plan entails allocating a portion of the country's daily crude oil production to meet domestic demand while selling the remainder on the international market.

He stated that dedicating around 600,000 barrels to domestic use would help stabilize petrol prices in Nigeria and reduce the volatility associated with international market fluctuations.