2027: Atiku Promises To Restore Petrol Subsidy If Elected

Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Atiku Abubakar, has promised to restore petrol subsidy if elected president in the 2027 general elections.

Atiku made the pledge during a Facebook Live session while responding to questions about the removal of the subsidy and its impact on Nigerians.

The former vice president said his position on the policy had evolved since President Bola Tinubu announced its removal in May 2023.

Atiku said he did not initially oppose the decision but questioned how the savings from the subsidy removal had been utilised.

“I initially did not oppose the removal of the fuel subsidy. But now that it has been removed, where is the money? Where has the subsidy money gone? Has it been used to improve healthcare, education or security?

“If I win the presidential election, I will restore the subsidy. And anyone who stole Nigeria’s subsidy funds must return the money,” he said.

Tinubu announced the end of the petrol subsidy during his inauguration on May 29, 2023, triggering a sharp increase in fuel prices and subsequent increases in transportation, food and other living costs.

The President had argued that the subsidy was too costly for the government to sustain and that funds previously committed to the programme would be redirected to infrastructure, healthcare, education, transportation and other public services.

In a national broadcast on July 31, 2023, Tinubu maintained that the subsidy had imposed a huge financial burden on the country.

“For several years, I have consistently maintained the position that the fuel subsidy had to go,” he said.

The President said the scheme consumed trillions of naira annually and had created opportunities for corruption, arguing that the resources could be better deployed to public transportation, healthcare, schools, housing and national security.

Atiku, Tinubu clash over subsidy savings

The disagreement between Atiku and Tinubu over the policy has continued since its removal.

In June 2024, Atiku accused the Federal Government of continuing to subsidise petrol despite the President’s declaration that the programme had ended.

He raised the issue following reports that government expenditure linked to petrol subsidy could reach N5.4 trillion in 2024.

Atiku challenged the government to explain the alleged expenditure and account for the actual savings from the subsidy removal.

“Paying subsidies and lying about it is nothing to brag about. Nigerians deserve better than this deception,” he said at the time.

The Presidency rejected the allegation.

Then Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said the government had not budgeted N5.4 trillion for petrol subsidy in 2024.

“The government wants to restate that its position on fuel subsidy has not changed from what President Bola Ahmed Tinubu declared on 29 May 2023. The fuel subsidy regime has ended. There is no N5.4 trillion being provisioned for it in 2024, as being widely speculated and discussed,” Onanuga said on June 6, 2024.

The subsidy debate resurfaced during the nationwide protests over economic hardship in August 2024, when Tinubu again ruled out reversing the policy.

In a national broadcast, the President described the removal as painful but necessary to address long-standing economic problems.

“I, therefore, took the painful yet necessary decision to remove fuel subsidies and abolish multiple foreign exchange systems which had constituted a noose around the economic jugular of our Nation and impeded our economic development and progress,” he said.

Tinubu had also acknowledged the hardship caused by the decision, saying in his June 12, 2023 Democracy Day address that the policy would impose an additional burden on Nigerians.

“I feel your pain,” he said, while urging citizens to make sacrifices as his administration implemented measures to cushion the effects of the reforms.

Atiku, however, has maintained that the subsidy system should have been reformed with greater transparency and accountability.

In November 2024, he said that although he supported removing what he described as an opaque and corruption-prone subsidy regime, the process should have been accompanied by measures to protect citizens and ensure that public resources were properly accounted for.

His latest pledge to restore the subsidy places the issue at the centre of the emerging 2027 presidential campaign and sets up a fresh policy contrast between his position and Tinubu’s continued defence of the 2023 decision.