The Federal Government has opened a 30-day discount window on petrol sold by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Limited), with public transporters given priority nationwide. Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Taiwo Oyedele announced the measure on Thursday, October 8, 2026, in Abuja, during a press briefing on fuel prices and subsidy questions.
Oyedele stressed that the arrangement is not a subsidy but a decision to sell petrol at cost, intended to reduce fuel price volatility. Under the initiative, the government will offer margin discounts at NNPC Limited stations over the next 30 days in the first instance.
Beyond the discount, the government is pursuing forward sales of crude oil to domestic refineries to shield pump prices from global market swings. The minister said that as production rises and previously committed crude is freed up, refiners will gain greater certainty around feedstock costs while consumers benefit from more stable prices.
He illustrated the framework by noting that crude could be sold forward to refiners for six months at a fixed benchmark such as $80 per barrel, preserving budgets and supporting price stability. The measures are designed to reduce the impact of fluctuations in crude prices and exchange rates on domestic petrol prices.
The government also plans to introduce price modulation anchored on a N1,350 per litre ceiling. Oyedele described the ceiling as neither a subsidy nor price control, arguing that pump prices should not track every movement in global crude prices or exchange rates.
He said the government is negotiating a N1,350 per litre ceiling on the ex-gantry or landing cost of petrol to keep retail prices stable. Where costs climb above the ceiling, refiners and importers would absorb the shortfall and recover it later when market conditions allow, without breaching the ceiling.
Explaining the rationale, Oyedele said stable pricing of N1,400 per litre today and tomorrow is preferable to N1,500 today and N1,300 tomorrow, because volatility itself adds to uncertainty and costs. He added that when transport fares rise sharply, they rarely fall at the same pace.
