Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has vowed to restore a targeted fuel subsidy if elected president in 2027, insisting that President Bola Tinubu cannot prevent him from implementing the policy.
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), made the position known in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu.
He criticised Tinubu’s decision to remove the petrol subsidy, arguing that the government continued to provide financial concessions to oil companies while Nigerians struggled with the rising cost of living.
Atiku also challenged the administration’s claim that fuel subsidy had been completely abolished, citing figures contained in the audited accounts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
According to him, NNPCL recorded about ₦4.84 trillion in energy-security expenses and related shortfalls in 2023, while the figure rose to approximately ₦7.13 trillion in 2024.
He argued that the expenditure amounted to the government absorbing part of the difference between the regulated petrol price and the actual cost, regardless of the terminology used to describe it.
“Nigerians do not eat semantics. Whether government calls it subsidy, under-recovery, shortfall or energy security, public resources were being used to bridge a gap between economic cost and the price at which petrol was sold,” Atiku said.
“You cannot abolish subsidy at the podium and resurrect it in the accounts under an alias.”
The former vice president also questioned the government’s petroleum investment incentives, particularly the Deep Offshore Oil and Gas Projects Incentives framework, which provides qualifying projects with production tax credits.
Atiku accused the Tinubu administration of applying different economic standards to businesses and ordinary Nigerians, arguing that oil investors had been given concessions while households continued to bear the effects of high fuel prices.
“The government can protect a multibillion-dollar oil investment from risk, yet it says protecting the Nigerian worker from crushing hardship is bad economics,” he said.
Atiku said his proposed intervention would differ from the subsidy regime of the past, which he described as lacking transparency and vulnerable to corruption.
He said his Atiku Economic Recovery Plan would introduce a targeted and capped subsidy that would be transparently budgeted and independently audited, with a clearly defined exit strategy.
The proposal, according to him, would also be accompanied by measures aimed at expanding domestic refining, increasing competition, improving mass transportation and restoring household purchasing power.
Atiku further demanded that the Federal Government publish details of tax concessions granted to petroleum companies, including the beneficiaries and the amount of revenue allegedly forgone.
He maintained that government should not demand sacrifices from Nigerians while providing economic relief to large corporations.
“A government cannot preach unrestrained market forces to the poor while practising interventionist economics for his rich foreign friends,” he said.
Atiku said the proposed targeted subsidy would be designed to cushion vulnerable Nigerians while avoiding the weaknesses associated with the previous subsidy system.
(The Sun)