Paul Ibe, spokesperson for former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, says an Atiku administration would temporarily restore petrol subsidy if elected in 2027 before gradually phasing it out.
Speaking on AIT, Ibe said the intervention would give Nigerians and businesses time to recover, stimulate economic activity and boost productivity.
He stressed that Atiku’s proposal would not revive the old subsidy system, which he described as opaque. Instead, government support would be tied to crude oil production and domestic refining.
“We are not returning to Egypt. We are not going back to the old regime that was opaque,” Ibe said.
Ibe said crude oil would be supplied to local refiners at discounted rates, allowing them to produce petrol and diesel at lower costs and ultimately sell fuel more cheaply to consumers.
“The crude oil will be sold at a discounted price, subsidised to refiners, and that will enable refiners to be able to produce fuel and diesel at a cheap cost. And when they produce cheaply, they will sell at the real pump price,” he said.
According to Ibe, an independent committee would determine the appropriate refinery-gate price based on prevailing market conditions.
He said that although the downstream petroleum sector had been deregulated, the government could still monitor prices to ensure refiners and marketers complied with the policy.
‘It will be for a period’
Ibe said the proposed subsidy would be temporary and designed to jump-start economic activity.
“It is not something that is… It is for a time, and it is essentially to ensure that we jumpstart this economy,” he said.
Asked whether the measure would be temporary, Ibe replied, “yes”, adding that Atiku had advocated a phased removal of subsidy as far back as 2023.
He criticised the President Bola Tinubu administration for removing petrol subsidy alongside other major economic reforms without allowing Nigerians and businesses enough time to adjust.
“No surgeon, no doctor would carry out two or more serious major surgeries, one after the other. They would do one, allow the patient to recuperate, and then undertake the second, or the third,” Ibe said.
He argued that the simultaneous removal of petrol subsidy, foreign exchange deregulation and electricity subsidy had worsened economic pressures on Nigerians.
Ibe said the proposed intervention would provide relief for households and businesses while creating room for increased productivity.
“You need to give Nigerians and give manufacturers an opportunity to ensure that there is productivity,” he said.
He also said Atiku’s economic agenda would seek to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on crude oil by diversifying the economy.
“We also need to start thinking about an economy that is beyond the oil economy. We need to diversify our economy,” Ibe said.
Ibe’s comments come amid an ongoing dispute between Atiku and Tinubu over the former vice-president’s proposal to restore petrol subsidy.
Tinubu had described the proposal as evidence of “serious ignorance on governance and economy”.
Atiku rejected the criticism, saying his proposal was not a return to the former subsidy regime but a targeted, capped, budgeted and independently audited intervention aimed at supporting domestic production.
