Nigerians panic buy fuel after Tinubu says subsidy to go
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Transcript
00:00 Tensions were running high outside this gas station in Lagos on Wednesday.
00:06 People waited for hours to fill their tanks, as the state oil firm announced it was hiking
00:11 up its prices.
00:12 They were hoping to get the old price, around 200 naira per litre, 43 cents in US dollars.
00:18 "Today they say they are trying to move the subsidy from the full way and the subsidy
00:23 is causing a lot of havoc.
00:24 You can see everywhere for yourself, everybody is blocked.
00:26 Motor vehicles, cars are not moving.
00:29 Humans, people are not going for a walk, no schools, everything is so capsizing, nobody
00:34 is moving.
00:35 So it's so frustrating.
00:36 I will vote for this government."
00:39 Some gas stations have already adjusted their prices, like here in Abuja.
00:44 "This morning the fuel price was just at the same 195 litre rates.
00:51 But just after a while, I don't know, the fuel price increased to almost 600 now.
00:58 This is like 550 here."
01:01 It was one of President Bola Tenobu's campaign promises.
01:05 As he was sworn in on Monday, he announced that the fuel subsidies were gone without
01:10 giving a specific timeline.
01:11 "The first subsidy is gone."
01:15 The state oil firm says that the subsidies cost it 867 million US dollars per month,
01:21 an amount that the state can no longer afford.
01:24 On Wednesday, it said the prices could still fluctuate to reflect market dynamics.
01:30 The authorities have already tried to scrap the fuel subsidies in the past, like in 2012,
01:36 but this sparked nationwide protests.
01:38 Several people were reported to have been killed by police.