The plight of Nigerians and especially those in the manufacturing sector with regards to the high cost of energy is nowhere coming to an end.
This is evidenced in the price of premium motor spirit (PMS) and that of diesel going up by 226.75 per cent and 12.77 per cent respectively in the last one year.
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The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its Premium Motor Spirit Price Watch for September 2023 released yesterday, said the average retail price paid by consumers of petrol for the month of September 2023 was N626.21, indicating a 226.75 per cent increase when compared to the value recorded in September 2022, which was N191.65.

The reports said however, comparing the average price value with the previous month (. i.e. August 2023), the average retail price decreased marginally by 0.08 per cent from N626.70.

On state profile analysis, Taraba State had the highest average retail price for petrol, at N665.56, Borno and Benue States were next, with N657.37 and N641.29 respectively.

On the other side, Rivers, Delta and Jigawa States had the lowest average retail prices for PMS, at N602.55, N605.88 and N617.42 Respectively.

In the Automotive Gas Oil (Diesel) Price Watch for September 2023, NBS said the average retail price of Diesel paid by consumers increased by 12.77 per cent on a year-on-year basis from a lower cost of N789.90 per litre recorded in the corresponding month of last year to a higher cost of N890.80 per litre in September 2023.

It said on a month-on-month basis, an increase of 4.27 per cent was recorded from N854.32 in the preceding month of August to an average of N890.80 in September 2023. Looking at the variations in the State prices, the top three states with the highest average price of the product in September 2023 include Kano State (N967.78), Anambra State (N950.95) and Niger State (N950.55).

Further, the top three lowest prices were recorded in the following states namely, Bayelsa State (N840.16), Katsina State (N840.55) and Rivers State (N840.82). The Zonal representation of average price of AGO showed that South East Zone has the highest price of N918.06 while South South zone has the lowest price N863.97 when compared with other zones.

Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) had in its Half-Year 2023 Economic Review report published recently, said its members spent at least N60.4 billion on alternative energy sources in the first half of 2023.
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The expenditure on alternative energy was linked to increasing diesel prices that had reportedly impacted negatively on the production capacity of many manufacturing entities.

Meanwhile, data from NBS also revealed that Lagos State recorded the highest internally generated revenue (IGR) in 2022. The state generated N651,145,633,085.30 out of the N1.925 trillion earned by the 36 states of the federation and the FCT.

The NBS said the N1.925 trillion generated by all the states and the FCT, is higher than the N1.895 trillion generated in 2021, which saw a 1.57 per cent rise.

This is even as the total debt stock of the 36 states and FCT is put at N9.17 trillion as at September this year.

Rivers and the FCT with IGR of N172, 823,232,535.44, and N124, 366,774,519.25, respectively, were next to Lagos. The least three performing states during the year under review were Kebbi, Taraba and Yobe with the value of N9, 146,249,907.83, N10, 238,110,125.95, and N10, 456,776,796.18, respectively.

The 2022 IGR, according to NBS had two major revenue sources namely, taxes and Ministries, Departments and Agencies’ (MDAs’) revenue.

The tax sub-category recorded during the period are, pay-as-you-earn (PAYE), Direct Assessment, Road Taxes, Stamp duties, Capital gain tax, Withholding taxes, Other taxes and LGAs revenue.
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