Fuel price hike: FG vows relief, cites global pressures

The Federal Government has defended rising fuel prices, describing escalating energy costs as a global challenge.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, made this known during a media chat with journalists in Abuja on Monday, October 12, 2026.

“Rising energy costs are a global challenge, and governments across the world are adopting different approaches to protect their economies and cushion the impact on citizens,” the minister said.

Idris said the federal government remained mindful of the pressures higher energy costs placed on households, businesses, and the wider economy.

According to him, the government is consolidating reform gains, expanding affordable energy alternatives, strengthening domestic production and creating conditions for sustainable reductions in living costs.

Idris said President Bola Tinubu understood the challenges Nigerians faced and remained determined to translate economic recovery into greater affordability, improved purchasing power and better living conditions.

Idris added that the achievements of the Renewed Hope Agenda over the past three years were evident across the administration’s Eight Presidential Priority Areas.

Oil prices slip as Russian diesel supply counters Gulf risks

The minister listed the priorities as economic reforms for sustained and inclusive growth, strengthened national security, improved agriculture and food security, and the unlocking of energy and natural resources.

Others, he said, included expanding infrastructure and transportation, improving education, healthcare and social investment, and accelerating diversification through industrialisation, digitisation and innovation.

Idris also identified improved governance and effective service delivery as key priorities, describing the initiatives as interconnected components of national transformation.

“These are not isolated achievements. They represent a deliberate and interconnected programme of national transformation,” Idris said.

On security, Idris said the federal government would neither relent nor retreat in its determination to secure every part of Nigeria.

He said Tinubu continued to demand results from security leaders, adding that investments in personnel, technology, intelligence, and operational capabilities were aimed at achieving lasting security.