Africa's largest oil producer
Nigeria on Sunday announced a cut in petrol prices, a month before the
country votes in presidential and parliamentary elections.
Oil
minister Diezani Alison-Madueke told an evening press conference that
the price of a litre of petrol would drop from 97 naira to 87 naira (47
US cents) at midnight on Sunday.
The measure was taken with the approval and directive of President
Goodluck Jonathan, a candidate in the February 14 polls, she said,
taking into account the recent volatility in the oil market
Nigeria depends on crude exports for 70 percent of government revenue and some 90 percent of its foreign exchange earnings.
With
the historic fall in oil prices, Jonathan's administration has had to
introduce austerity measures and devalue the naira currency, directly
affecting the standard of living for Nigerians.
Nigeria
extracts around two million barrels of crude a day but imports most of
its fuel as it does not have refining capacity. Subsidies are used to
keep prices low at the pumps.
In
late 2011, Jonathan tried to remove the subsidies, causing a general
strike and mass protests, which saw them reintroduced but to a lesser
degree
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