Nigerians may soon experience an increase in the cost of petrol and diesel as the Federal Government and the House of Representatives plan to enforce a 5% road user charge. This charge will be added to the prices of fuel and diesel and is meant to generate money for maintaining federal roads across the country.
The discussion took place during a House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee meeting in Abuja, where lawmakers and officials from the Ministry of Works explained the reasons for this plan.
The Minister of State for Works, Mohammed Goroyo, said that there is an urgent need to begin collecting this road charge. He mentioned that the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) should handle the process.
According to him, the country needs around ₦800 billion every year to maintain its roads properly, but current government funding falls far short.
He explained that the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) requires ₦880 billion annually to maintain roads. However, it only received ₦76.3 billion in 2023 and ₦103.3 billion in 2024.
For the year 2025, ₦168.9 billion has been proposed, which is still far from what is needed. Because of this shortfall, Nigeria’s roads continue to worsen, leading to more expensive repairs and travel delays that affect commuters and businesses alike.
Goroyo stressed the importance of properly collecting and sending in the 5% user charge, saying it is the key to solving the funding issue for road maintenance. The Managing Director of FERMA, Chukwuemeka Abbasi, also spoke on the matter. He pointed out that although the law allows this 5% charge to be included in fuel prices, the NMDPRA has never enforced it.
Abbasi explained that this charge was meant to provide a reliable stream of money for road repairs and rehabilitation, but FERMA has continued to face serious funding problems due to non-implementation.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, reminded lawmakers that the issue was raised in March during a plenary session. He said that the 5% user charge has been part of Nigerian law since 2007 under the FERMA Amendment Act, but it has not been properly followed.
Francis Waive, the chairman of the committee and the House Committee on Rules and Business, clarified that this move is not about raising fuel prices or changing the law. Instead, it is about making sure that a law already passed is finally enforced.
He added that the committee’s goal is to fix the problems that have come from ignoring the law and ensure that both government agencies and private groups obey all existing rules. This development is happening just after a recent drop in petrol prices.
Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) retail stations, Dangote Refinery, and their partners recently cut petrol prices to between ₦875 and ₦895 per litre in places like Lagos and Abuja.
In summary, while Nigerians have seen some relief from high petrol prices in recent weeks, the introduction of a 5% road user charge may push fuel costs back up. Still, government officials believe this step is necessary to improve road conditions and create a more reliable system for road maintenance funding.
