Paul Ibe, media adviser to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has pushed back against the Federal Government's claim that petrol is cheaper in Nigeria than in the United States, saying the comparison ignores the income gap between workers in both countries.

Ibe was responding to remarks made by Heineken Lokpobiri, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), during an appearance on Channels Television's Politics Today on Tuesday, September 22.

Lokpobiri argued that petrol sold for an average of about N1,430 per litre in Nigeria, against roughly N1,633 in the US, and said Nigeria's prices were also lower than those in Cameroon, Ghana and South Africa.

He made the comments while defending the federal government's decision to fully deregulate the downstream petroleum sector.

Atiku's aide challenges the logic

Ibe said any price comparison that stripped out purchasing power and cost of living was economi-cally incomplete.

His central argument was that what a worker could afford to buy with a month's

wages mattered far more than the raw price at the pump.

Ibe said:

"At about N1,400 per litre, Nigeria's N70,000 minimum wage buys only 50 litres of petrol."

He added that a worker earning the US federal minimum wage for four weeks could purchase roughly 981 litres of petrol at prevailing American pump prices.

He called on the government to publish data showing petrol costs as a share of wages, alongside figures on real household income, food inflation, transport costs, unemployment, poverty levels and purchasing power, arguing that those numbers would give Nigerians a clearer picture of where the burden actually falls.

Fuel costs and the wider economy

Ibe also pointed to the knock-on effects of high petrol prices in Nigeria, where road transport dominates the movement of goods and petrol-powered generators remain common in homes and businesses, Tribune reports.

He said rising fuel costs tend to push up prices for food, transportation and production, squeezing household budgets beyond just what families spend at the filling station.

"Affordability is measured against income, purchasing power and cost of living. Any compari-son that leaves those out is economically incomplete."

For his part, Lokpobiri maintained that the Federal Government had no direct control over petrol prices under a deregulated market, since crude oil and refined products are traded globally.

He also said the pressure on consumers from higher energy prices was not a problem unique to Nigeria, noting that households in the US and Europe faced similar strain.

Petrol was selling for about N1,400 per litre in Lagos and Abuja at the time of the debate, with prices reaching around N1,500 in some northern parts of the country, according to Reuters.

Marketers expect fresh drop in petrol prices

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has said petrol prices in the country_are likely to drop further in the days and weeks ahead as a result of the recent dip in international crude oil prices.

Chinedu Ukadike, the Public Relations Officer of IPMAN that the drop in crude oil prices is al-ready being reflected at the pump at the Dangote Refinery and depots.

He explained that immediate price cuts could lead to losses for marketers still holding expensive inventory.