On January 02, 2025, an X account @GoziconC supposedly belonging to one Chigozirim Aliyu Emeakayi made a post that carried three claims saying, “Fuel prices have gradually decreased. Foreign reserves have risen. Naira has strengthened against the US dollar, kudos to President Tinubu!”
The claim has enjoyed over 11,000 views, and many thousand engagements; shares, likes and comments. Its continuous virality makes it worth verifying.
Verification
Claim 1 – Decrease In Fuel Price
On the morning of May 29, 2023, before the inauguration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the 16th President of Nigeria, the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) popularly called petrol was between ₦180 and ₦190 per litre.
However, in his speech during the inauguration, President Tinubu said “subsidy is gone” (referring to the perennial payment of subsidy on PMS). After that statement, pump price went on to sell between ₦195 to between ₦448 and ₦557 per litre, marking a 185.64% increase.
And since the commencement of the Tinubu-led administration to January 2025, the price of PMS had increased about 4 times aside that of May 2023; In June 2023, the price of petrol rose again from ₦557 to ₦617 per litre, an increase of 10.77%.
By September 2024, the third adjustment came with prices jumping by 45.38% to between ₦855 and ₦897 per litre.
Nigerians experienced the fourth increment in October 2024 after the NNPCL’s decision to step back from its role as a middleman between marketers and the Dangote Refinery. NNPCL and other fuel stations adjusted their pump prices to align with refinery costs, leading to a 15% increase to ₦1,030 per litre.
Despite these increases, 0n December 14, 2024, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) reduced the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), across its retail outlets in Abuja from ₦1,060 per litre at the pumps to ₦1,040, a reduction of ₦20 per litre.
Still within the same month, the NNPCL reduced the price of PMS, across its retail outlets to ₦899.
VERDICT
The claim that there is a gradual decrease in fuel prices is PARTLY TRUE due to fuel reduction twice in December 2024.
However, this reduction is within the four times increment since the commencement of the Tinubu-led administration in May 29, 2023.
CLAIM 2 – Rise In Foreign Reserves
The second claim by @GoziconC says, “Foreign reserves have risen”.
Verification
Foreign reserves are assets held by a country’s central bank or monetary authority in foreign currencies or gold.
Nigeria’s foreign reserve was at $35,094,421,973.75 on May 30, 2023, a day after Tinubu assumed office as president. As of December 31, 2023, the reserve was at $32,912,429,900.17.
From the latest data by the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN), as of December 30, 2024, the Foreign Reserves stood at $40,884,855,767.06.
Below is a 5-month backward review of the Foreign Reserves according to dates, as obtained from data of Nigeria’s apex bank from December 2024.
According to the CBN data, Nigeria’s Foreign Reserves has maintained a steady growth from August 30, 2024 till December 30, 2024.
Date Current Foreign reserve (Gross)
30/12/2024 – $40,884,855,767.06
29/11/2024 – $40,232,463,200.20
31/10/2024 – $39,785,523,194.43
30/09/2024 – $38,352,539,980.61
30/08/2024 – $36,305,654,424.25
VERDICT
The claim that Nigeria’s foreign reserves have risen is TRUE.
CLAIM 3 – Naira has been strengthened against the US Dollar
The third claim by the post says the Naira has been strengthened against the US Dollar.
Verification
On May 29, 2023 when President Tinubu assumed office to lead Nigeria, the exchange rate was at $1 to ₦460.72. Barely one month after his assumption, a dollar stood at ₦823 for the best exchange rate.
Towards the end of 2024, the official exchange rate at the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM) floated between ₦1,535-N1,538 to a dollar. On the parallel market, where the exchange rate is traded unofficially, the rate averaged between ₦1,650 and ₦1,655 to the dollar, showing stability.
According to tradingeconomics.com, “the USD/NGN increased 6.4000 or 0.38% to 1,689.5300 on Tuesday November 26 from 1,683.1300 in the previous trading session. Historically, the USD/NGN reached an all-time high of 1717.50 in November of 2024.
Source: Trading Economics
Statistics show that between December 7, 2024, till January 14, 2025, the Naira has been hovering around ₦1,500.
Verdict
The claim that the Naira has been strengthened against the dollar is TRUE, as statistics on various platforms attests to that.
However, this verdict depends on the period that you are looking at which was not stated by the publisher of the post being verified here.