I’ll not resurrect old fuel subsidy — Atiku tells Nigerians plans to cut petrol price

Atiku Abubakar, the former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has announced his plan to cut the price of petrol if elected president in the 2027 general election. In a statement released by his media team, Atiku revealed that his administration would not resurrect the old fuel subsidy regime, but rather introduce a new, targeted approach to lower energy costs and accelerate domestic refining.

Atiku's proposal involves replacing the old import-subsidy architecture with a production subsidy that is capped, transparently budgeted, and independently audited. The goal is to deliver energy costs reduction while fostering local refining capabilities. According to Atiku, the subsidy will be directly linked to the barrel of crude oil, ensuring that the benefits are verifiable and measurable.

The former Vice President emphasized that the cost of subsidizing crude below its market-equivalent value presents a real opportunity cost to the federal government. To prevent refinery owners from pocketing the benefits without passing them on to consumers, Atiku's model includes a provision that no refinery would receive subsidized crude without supplying an equal, independently verified quantity of petroleum products to the Nigerian market under a transparent pricing formula.

Furthermore, Atiku stressed that crude allocation, refinery intake, production yields, inventories, and domestic deliveries would be reconciled, ensuring that every subsidized barrel can be traced from allocation through refining to the Nigerian consumer. He added that any refinery not meeting these conditions would not qualify for the subsidy.

If elected, Atiku's administration aims to prevent phantom cargoes, fictitious imports, unverifiable under-recoveries, and retrospective claims. The former Vice President believes in a clear and accountable system that benefits Nigerian consumers directly.