Petrol Should Sell For N605, Says Accord Party Chieftain

Hibbatullah Shittu

September 7, 2026
3 min read
petrol

A chieftain of the Accord Party and factional presidential candidate, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has stated that petrol should not sell for more than N605 per litre in Nigeria.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Saturday, Olawepo-Hashim faulted the Federal Government’s handling of the fuel subsidy debate, calling it “accounting magic.”

He argued that the cost of petrol in the country is inflated due to how domestically produced crude oil is priced and accounted for, rather than the actual cost of producing and delivering the commodity.

“N605 per litre is our starting sustainable price for petrol. Nobody will buy petrol above N610 under our government. It could be as low as N200,” he said.

He emphasized that the proposed N605 price would reflect a sustainable cost structure rather than a return to an opaque subsidy regime. He urged the government to establish the true cost of producing crude, refining it, and transporting petroleum products.

He criticized the practice of using international crude prices as a benchmark for local petroleum pricing.

“The truth of it is that the price is currently inflated. By who? By the government,” he said.

Olawepo-Hashim added, “What you have had really has never been any subsidy, even when we had lower pump petrol prices. The subsidy issue is more of an accounting magic.”

Citing data attributed to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, he said domestic crude production costs sit around $30 per barrel. Adding a $15 margin to production costs, along with $5 for refining and $7 for transportation and insurance, brings the estimated cost to $57 per barrel. At an exchange rate of N1,400 to the dollar, he calculated that petrol should cost about 34 cents, or approximately N501 per litre. The N605 proposal would include an extra N100 per litre energy tax for developing alternative energy sources.

Insisting that local products should not be linked directly to global markets, he added, “You cannot price your local products at international price.”

Olawepo-Hashim pointed to oil producers like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as examples of nations that do not price crude for their domestic markets at international rates.

He called for an independent forensic audit covering crude production, contracting, procurement, refining, transportation, storage, insurance, pipeline operations, and distribution.

“Show Nigerians the books. Publish the production cost. Publish refinery cost. Publish transportation. Publish insurance. Publish every margin. Let the data speak,” he said.