The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has doubled down on his promise to restore petrol subsidy if elected president in 2027, contradicting his spokesperson, Paul Ibe, who earlier said the intervention would eventually be phased out.
Atiku, in a statement on Tuesday, on his X handle, said his position on subsidy "has not changed and will not change," insisting that he would restore what he described as targeted subsidy to ease the economic hardship facing Nigerians.
"On the question of subsidy, my position has not changed and will not change: I will restore it! A nation as blessed as ours has no business abandoning its citizens to hardship. Nigeria is rich enough to look after her own," he said.
The former vice-president said his proposed policy was aimed at restoring the purchasing power of Nigerians, arguing that the strength of an economy should be measured by what citizens can afford rather than how much revenue the government collects.
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"I believe the wealth of a nation is not measured by how much the government collects, but by how much the money in the pockets of its people can buy," Atiku said.
He added that his administration would seek to make wages more valuable, reduce transportation costs for farmers and make food more affordable for households.
"I want wages to have value again. I want farmers to move produce without transport swallowing their profits. I want families to fill their baskets without emptying their pockets," he said.
The ADC candidate said the proposed intervention would be targeted and intended to break what he described as the link between rising fuel prices, transportation costs and food inflation.
"That is why I will restore targeted subsidies and put purchasing power back in the hands of Nigerians," he said.
His comments came shortly after Ibe, who spoke on AIT on Tuesday, said the subsidy proposed by Atiku would be temporary and would be gradually phased out after the economy recovered.
Ibe had explained that the proposed intervention would be tied to crude oil production and domestic refining, rather than a return to the former subsidy regime.
"What he's simply saying is that the subsidy that he is advocating will be tied to the barrel, the crude oil barrel. This is perhaps the only thing that we have in so much abundance that Nigerians have not yet benefited from," Ibe said.
According to him, crude oil would be supplied to local refiners at a discounted price, allowing them to produce petrol and diesel more cheaply and pass the benefit 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," he said.
Ibe also said an independent committee would determine the appropriate crude oil price supplied to refiners, while the government would monitor pump prices despite the deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector.
"There'll be a window because, of course, we deregulated. You may not fix the price but you can have price monitoring to ensure that everybody aligns with what the government hopes to achieve," he said.
But Atiku's latest statement appeared to put greater emphasis on the restoration of subsidy itself, rather than the eventual withdrawal suggested by his spokesperson.
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He also criticised the Tinubu administration for removing petrol subsidies alongside other major economic reforms without giving Nigerians sufficient time to adjust.
"When fuel rises, transport rises. When transport rises, food rises. When food rises, families suffer," Atiku said.
"I will break that wretched chain that has defined our national life in the nearly four years of Tinubu's presidency."
He said his proposed policy would ultimately seek to make the naira more valuable in the hands of Nigerians and improve economic and physical security.
"I will make the naira in your pocket worth more, make daily living affordable again, and secure our people," he said.
Tinubu had previously criticised Atiku's proposal to restore petrol subsidy, describing it as evidence of "serious ignorance on governance and economy."
