Presidency Rejects Atiku’s Fuel Subsidy Proposal

Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, has criticised the proposal by former Vice President and African Democratic Congress presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar to subsidise crude oil supplied to local refineries. Dare, in a post on his X handle on Wednesday, argued that selling federation crude to refiners at preferential prices would reduce government revenue and create an immediate fiscal gap. He said the policy could also distort the domestic market, create artificial advantages for some refiners and undermine smaller indigenous modular refineries. Dare further warned that a significant difference between fuel prices in Nigeria and neighbouring West African countries could encourage cross-border smuggling.

The comments followed Atiku’s renewed pledge to restore fuel subsidy if elected president in 2027. Atiku had said his position remained unchanged after one of his media aides, Paul Ibe, suggested that the proposed intervention could eventually be phased out as the economy improved. Ibe had explained that Atiku’s plan would involve supplying crude to local refiners at discounted prices, allowing them to produce fuel and diesel more cheaply and provide temporary relief to consumers. However, Dare rejected the proposal, arguing that it could create market distortions and weaken public finances. The dispute has renewed the debate over petrol subsidy removal, which President Tinubu announced at his inauguration on May 29, 2023, with the administration defending the policy as necessary to strengthen government finances while Atiku has linked its removal to rising living costs.

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