Presidency, Wike Tackle Atiku Over Pledge To Restore Fuel Subsidy

The Presidency has described former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s proposal to restore petrol subsidy as retrogressive and an attempt to regain political power, arguing that it would return Nigeria to a wasteful and fiscally burdensome petroleum regime.

The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, stated this in a statement with the title, “Restoring Petrol Subsidies: Atiku’s Volte-Face and Desperation for Power,” issued yesterday.

Similarly, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, criticised Atiku’s position, describing him as inconsistent for seeking to reverse a policy he had previously condemned.

Wike, who spoke yesterday in Abuja during an inspection of ongoing infrastructure projects in the FCT, defended the federal government’s decision to remove the subsidy and questioned Atiku’s consistency.

Atiku, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, had on Wednesday promised to restore petrol subsidy if elected president in the 2027 general election, describing President Bola Tinubu’s subsidy removal policy as opaque.

He reiterated the position yesterday through his media aide, Phrank Shuaibu, saying his proposed reform would “replace Nigeria’s old import-subsidy architecture with a targeted, capped, transparently budgeted and independently audited production subsidy designed to lower energy costs while accelerating domestic refining.”

LEADERSHIP recalls that Tinubu, Atiku and Peter Obi had during the 2023 presidential campaign promised to remove fuel subsidy, describing the system as corrupt.

Tinubu subsequently scrapped the subsidy, a move that has continued to attract criticism from opposition politicians over its transparency and harsh impact on Nigerians.

Tinubu Blasts Atiku

According to Onanuga, Atiku had revealed his economic plan for Nigeria by proposing to restore what the Presidency described as a “much-abused, wasteful, pillaged, corruption-ridden fuel subsidy regime.”

He said Atiku had previously supported the elimination of subsidy ahead of the 2023 election but had now “opportunistically recanted the major plank of his economic doctrine.”

The Presidency noted that the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) had made the subsidy regime illegal from the end of June 2023, adding that Tinubu accelerated its removal by several weeks to prevent further financial losses.

It said restoring the old arrangement would require a clear legal, fiscal and administrative framework, including identifying its funding source and determining how it would operate within the current petroleum market.

Onanuga also rejected Atiku’s claim of a N30 trillion subsidy windfall or savings.

“Contrary to Atiku’s claim in his interview, no N30 trillion subsidy windfall or savings exists anywhere except in his imagination,” he stated.

He explained that subsidy did not involve money sitting in government coffers to make petrol cheaper, but rather NNPC selling petrol to the government below its cost, resulting in under-recovery and substantial losses.

According to him, trillions of naira in subsidy costs were still reflected in NNPC’s books as obligations owed by the Federal Government.

The Presidency said Nigeria’s petroleum landscape had changed significantly since May 2023, particularly with the emergence of substantial domestic refining capacity.

It argued that the Dangote Refinery and other local refineries would have faced greater difficulty commencing production under the old subsidy regime, adding that restoring the policy could undermine local refining, threaten jobs and increase foreign exchange losses.

Onanuga said the market-driven petroleum sector had also enabled Nigeria to export refined products to Europe, Asia and the United States, contrasting this with the period when Atiku served as vice president, when refined petroleum products were among Nigeria’s largest imports.

The Presidency also argued that funds previously used to subsidise petrol were now available to the three tiers of government.

It said the three tiers shared about N3 trillion from the Federation Account in July, describing it as a record, and attributed the increase to the abolition of petrol price discounts and reforms to the foreign exchange regime.

Onanuga said the transition from imported petrol to domestically refined products would conserve foreign exchange, improve energy security, promote industrial development and create jobs.

He acknowledged that higher petrol prices had placed enormous pressure on households and businesses but said the government was pursuing measures to reduce the burden, including the use of compressed natural gas (CNG), which the Presidency said was 70 per cent cheaper than petrol.

He said the debate over subsidy should focus on how it would be funded and administered.

The Presidency asked Atiku how much his proposed subsidy would cost annually, what revenue would finance it, whether the government would borrow to fund it, whether existing PIA provisions would have to be amended and how subsidy payments would be verified.

It also questioned what exactly would be subsidised under the new model now that Nigeria has substantially increased domestic petrol production.

“We believe sustainable relief is different from recreating a fiscal arrangement that will again cripple our country,” Onanuga said.

Wike Blasts Atiku

Wike recalled that Atiku had said in 2022 that he would remove fuel subsidy within his first 100 days in office if elected president.

He argued that Atiku had previously described subsidy as a fraud and pledged to abolish it, making his current proposal contradictory.

The minister said restoring subsidy would also run counter to the direction of the PIA, which seeks to transform the midstream and downstream petroleum industry into a commercially driven and competitive market.

Wike warned that government-controlled fuel pricing could create regulatory uncertainty, weaken investor confidence and reintroduce distortions the country had been trying to eliminate.

“Now, in 2026, he is not going to remove the fuel subsidy. Is he going back to the fraud, which he had alleged that the fuel subsidy was?” Wike asked.

He described Atiku as a “voodoo economist”, accusing him of saying whatever he believed would appeal to voters.

“Atiku, who is confused, who acts like a voodoo economist, Atiku will say anything just to be president,” Wike said.

Atiku Unveils New Subsidy Model

Atiku, however, said his Atiku Economic Recovery Plan (AERP) 2027 recognised that the choice before Nigeria was not simply between subsidy and no subsidy, but between an opaque intervention and a disciplined mechanism that delivers measurable benefits.

“My proposal is not to resurrect the old subsidy regime. We will move subsidies from importation to production, from intermediaries to Nigerian refineries, and from unverifiable claims to verifiable barrels.

“The principle is simple: the subsidy will follow the barrel.”

Under the AERP, qualifying public and private Nigerian refineries would receive domestic crude at a preferential price, subject to strict production, efficiency, transparency and domestic-supply conditions.

Atiku acknowledged that supplying crude below its market value represented an opportunity cost to the Federation, saying his plan would account for the cost transparently.

“The cost will be known. The ceiling will be known. The beneficiaries will be known. And, most importantly, the benefit delivered to Nigerians will be measurable.

“We will determine what Nigeria can afford before we subsidise. We will not subsidise first and discover the bill afterwards.”

He said refinery owners would not be allowed to retain the benefits of preferential crude without passing them to consumers.

Under the proposed model, subsidised crude would be tied to independently verified production and domestic supply, with crude allocation, refinery intake, production yields, inventories and deliveries reconciled.

“No phantom cargoes. No fictitious imports. No unverifiable under-recoveries. No retrospective claims,” Atiku said.

He added that eligibility would be open to all qualifying public and private refineries and based on independently verified capacity, efficiency, domestic supply and compliance rather than political discretion.

The programme, he said, would also contain safeguards against arbitrage, preventing subsidised crude and products from being diverted to more profitable foreign markets.

Operators that violated domestic-supply obligations, manipulated records or failed to pass the benefit to consumers would lose eligibility, refund the subsidy benefit and face regulatory and legal sanctions.

“Nigeria will not subsidise anybody’s private profit. Public support must produce a measurable public benefit,” Atiku said.