The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that the average retail price of a litre of petrol in Nigeria experienced a staggering surge, skyrocketing from N195.29 in October 2022 to a striking N630.63 in October 2023. This represents a remarkable 222.92% increase over the previous year’s figure, as announced in the NBS Petrol Price Watch for October 2023 released in Abuja on Wednesday.
The report highlighted that the average retail price increased by 0.71% from N626.21 in September 2023. In terms of state profiles, Zamfara topped the list, paying the highest average retail price of N659.38 per litre, followed closely by Gombe and Borno at N658.33 and N657.27, respectively. In contrast, Lagos, Oyo, and Delta paid the lowest average retail prices at N590.95, N592.19, and N599.38, respectively.
Analysis by zones indicated that the North-East Zone recorded the highest average retail price for petrol in October 2023 at N644.16, while the South-West recorded the lowest at N616.81 per litre.
Additionally, the NBS Diesel Price Watch Report for October 2023 disclosed that the average retail price of diesel was N1004.98 per litre. This represented a 25.45% increase over the N801.09 per litre recorded in October 2022. On a month-on-month basis, the price increased by 12.82% from the N890.80 per litre recorded in September 2023.
State profile analysis for diesel prices revealed that Plateau recorded the highest average price at N1150.00 per litre, followed by Nasarawa at N1138.00 and Benue at N1091.67. Conversely, Rivers State recorded the lowest diesel price at N824.44 per litre, followed by Borno at N827.27 and Kebbi State at N845.00 per litre.
Analysis by zones showed that the North-Central had the highest diesel price at N1090.69 per litre, while the North-East recorded the lowest at N947.32 per litre. The report signals significant challenges ahead for consumers and raises concerns about the broader economic impact of rising fuel costs.
