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STORY: Nigeria's state oil firm has increased the price of petrol by 11% - the second rise in two weeks.

It's a move that comes the day after NNPC started buying fuel from the giant Dangote refinery on the outskirts of Lagos.

On Monday (September 16), NNPC said it had increased gasoline prices from 858 naira a liter, or a little over half a U.S. dollar, to 950 naira in Lagos, and as high as 1,019 naira in northeastern states.

It said it buys from Dangote at 898 naira per liter.

The price of gasoline is a sensitive issue in Nigeria.

Many households and businesses use it to power generators as the majority of citizens are not connected to the grid.

:: August 1, 2024

:: Abuja, Nigeria

The latest price increase is likely to add to public anger.

Nigerians are already struggling with inflation of 33.4% - driving up transport costs and causing a cost of living crisis that led to violent protests in early August.

The government had been subsidising petrol for decades until President Bola Tinubu began removing support when he took office in May last year.

Nigeria expects the 650,000 barrel-per-day Dangote refinery to end years of costly imports of gasoline.

From October, NNPC will supply 385,000 barrels of crude per day to be paid for in naira by Dangote refinery, which will in turn sell its fuel in the local currency.

However, NNPC said it had started buying the fuel from Dangote on Sunday (September 15) in U.S. dollars and that a deal to purchase gasoline in naira was still to take effect.