Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has vowed to introduce a targeted fuel subsidy if elected President, declaring that neither President Bola Ahmed Tinubu nor what he described as “millions of his gang of economic jesters” could stop him.
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, accused the Tinubu administration of claiming to have ended petrol subsidy while allegedly granting tax credits and other incentives to oil investors.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said government records showed that public funds were still being used to cushion petrol price differences despite the declaration that subsidy had been removed.
He cited audited accounts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, which recorded about N4.84 trillion in energy-security expenses and related shortfalls in 2023 and approximately N7.13 trillion in 2024.
According to him, NNPC’s explanation that the expenses partly arose from exchange-rate differences in determining regulated petrol prices amounted to government intervention in the downstream petroleum market.
Atiku said changing the name from subsidy to “shortfall”, “under-recovery” or “energy security” did not alter the economic reality.
“Nigerians do not eat semantics. Whether government calls it subsidy, under-recovery, shortfall or energy security, public resources were being used to bridge a gap between economic cost and the price at which petrol was sold,” he said.
The former Vice President also questioned the government’s petroleum investment incentives, particularly tax credits available to qualifying deep offshore oil and gas projects.
He accused the administration of protecting major oil investors from economic risks while leaving ordinary Nigerians to bear the full impact of rising fuel prices.
Atiku said his proposed targeted subsidy would be fundamentally different from the previous subsidy regime, which he described as opaque and prone to corruption.
According to him, his Atiku Economic Recovery Plan would provide a capped, targeted and transparently budgeted intervention, subject to independent auditing and a clearly defined exit strategy.
He said the policy would also be accompanied by accelerated domestic refining, increased competition, improved mass transportation and measures aimed at restoring household purchasing power.
Atiku further demanded that the Federal Government publish details of petroleum tax concessions already granted, including the beneficiaries and the amount of revenue allegedly forgone.
He accused the Tinubu administration of applying different economic standards to corporations and ordinary Nigerians.
“A government cannot preach unrestrained market forces to the poor while practising interventionist economics for his rich foreign friends,” Atiku said.
He insisted that protecting Nigerian families from the hardship caused by high petrol prices should not be dismissed as irresponsible economics.
The former Vice President said his proposed intervention would focus on cushioning vulnerable households while ensuring that government spending remained transparent, accountable and time-bound.
