Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress, ADC, presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar has proposed replacing Nigeria’s former petrol import subsidy regime with a capped, budgeted and independently audited production subsidy aimed at lowering energy costs and boosting domestic refining.
The proposal, contained in the Atiku Economic Recovery Plan, AERP, 2027 and announced by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, would allow qualifying Nigerian refineries to access crude at preferential prices in exchange for meeting production, efficiency and domestic supply requirements.
Atiku said the plan was designed to shift government support from fuel importation to domestic production while ensuring that the cost and benefits of the intervention were clearly disclosed and independently verified.
In a swift response, President Bola Tinubu has carpeted Abubakar on his policy on restoring the fuel subsidy regime scrapped three years ago by the incumbent administration.
Speaking when he met with Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, who paid him a visit at the State House, President Tinubu, in a veiled reference to Atiku’s declaration, derided him as ignorant of governance and the economy.
Tinubu recalled that under the subsidy regime, governors were unable to pay salaries and meet other expectations of the people as they were always financially insolvent.
He equally made an allusion to an old political ally, a former Osun State governor and incumbent national secretary of the ADC, Rauf Aregbesola, whom Tinubu also recalled paid half salaries to workers during his tenure.
“My proposal is not to resurrect the old subsidy regime. We will move subsidy from importation to production, from middlemen to Nigerian refineries, and from unverifiable claims to verifiable barrels,” he said.
Under the proposed framework, both public and private refineries that meet specified requirements would qualify for preferential crude allocations.
Eligibility would be based on independently verified capacity, efficiency, domestic supply and compliance, rather than political discretion.
Atiku said refineries receiving subsidized crude would be required to supply a corresponding, independently verified quantity of petroleum products to the Nigerian market under a transparent pricing formula.
He said crude allocations, refinery intake, production yields, inventories and domestic deliveries would be reconciled to ensure that every subsidized barrel could be tracked from allocation through refining to consumers.
Refineries that divert subsidized crude or products to foreign markets, manipulate production records or fail to meet domestic supply obligations would lose eligibility, refund the subsidy benefit and face applicable regulatory and legal sanctions.
“Nigeria will not subsidize anybody’s private profit. Public support must produce a measurable public benefit,” Atiku said.
The proposed subsidy would also operate within an annual fiscal ceiling approved through the federal budget. Atiku said this would prevent open-ended subsidy liabilities and allow the National Assembly and the public to know the maximum financial exposure.
Also Read: Atiku challenges Tinubu’s 2027 eligibility over NYSC
He said the framework would disclose the opportunity cost of supplying crude below market-equivalent prices, including the implications for revenues accruing to the federal, state and local governments.
The policy would have sunset and periodic review provisions, with subsidy support gradually reduced as domestic refining capacity, utilization, competition and efficiency improve.
“Our objective is not permanent subsidy. It is to use temporary and disciplined support to build a refining industry strong enough eventually not to need subsidy,” Atiku said.
He argued that increased domestic refining and lower energy costs would reduce transportation and logistics expenses, support businesses and farmers, and help moderate inflation.
Atiku also criticized President Bola Tinubu’s handling of fuel subsidy removal, arguing that Nigerians had been subjected to higher petrol prices while petroleum-related costs continued to appear in government accounts.
He cited NNPCL’s audited financial statements, which recorded about ₦4.84 trillion in Energy Security Expenses in 2023 and ₦7.13 trillion in 2024, and called for clarification on the nature of the expenses and whether they included under-recoveries, pricing differentials or other petroleum supply costs.
“If government continued absorbing differences between the economic cost of petroleum products and what was recovered from the market, then Nigerians are entitled to ask how that differs economically from the subsidy they were told had disappeared,” he said.
Atiku also called for a public reconciliation of approximately ₦30 trillion in Federation revenues, deductions, savings, transfers and related funds, stressing that he was not alleging that the entire amount represented fuel subsidy or had been stolen.
He urged the federal government to publish details of the deductions, beneficiaries, transfers, balances and legal authority behind the transactions.
Atiku further said previous subsidy transactions should be subjected to lawful scrutiny and that anyone found through due process to have diverted public funds should face prosecution and asset recovery.
He said his proposed approach would differ from the current system by establishing the intervention and fiscal ceiling in advance, tracking crude allocations and refinery output, auditing the programme and gradually reducing support as domestic refining becomes more efficient.
The Eagle
