By Emmanuel Onyedika
The Presidency has dismissed former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s proposal to restore petrol subsidies, describing it as a “volte-face and desperation for power” that ignores Nigeria’s current petroleum and fiscal realities.
In a statement, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said Atiku’s plan is “retrogressive” and “does not make fiscal sense.” He accused the former Vice President of misrepresenting the impact of subsidy removal.
“Contrary to Atiku’s claim in his interview, no N30 trillion subsidy windfall or savings exists anywhere except in his imagination,” Onanuga stated.
He explained that the old subsidy was not money in the treasury but an NNPC under-recovery, which created trillions of naira in costs the government had not paid. Onanuga noted that the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) had already scheduled the end of subsidies by June 2023, and President Tinubu only accelerated it “to stop further bleeding.”
He argued that restoring subsidies would require new legal and fiscal frameworks, violate the current market-driven structure, and harm local refineries.
“The Dangote Refinery would not have kickstarted production for local consumption was the subsidy regime operative,” he said, warning that reinstating subsidies would spell bankruptcy for smaller refineries and cause job losses.
Onanuga added that Nigeria now exports refined products, reversing the era when the country spent about $10 billion annually importing fuel. He said the N15 trillion that would have been borrowed for discounted petrol has instead gone into government coffers, making states fiscally stable.
He challenged Atiku to provide details of how much the programme would cost annually, what revenue source would finance it, and whether the National Assembly would amend the PIA.
“If petrol is sold below its economic cost, which is about N1,200 to N1,300, someone must absorb the difference. Ultimately, that cost falls on public finances,” Onanuga warned.
The Presidency said it is focused on sustainable relief through Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), which is 70 per cent cheaper than petrol and already in use by major fleets.
“We believe sustainable relief is different from recreating a fiscal arrangement that will again cripple our country,” Onanuga concluded, urging political actors to present the full fiscal and legal implications of any subsidy restoration proposal.