2027: I will bring back petrol subsidy, Atiku insists

Atiku Abubakar, the 2027 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, has stated that he will restore petrol subsidy if elected president. According to Atiku, his administration would fully restore fuel subsidy, citing that Nigeria is wealthy enough to provide support for its citizens. He also argued that the removal of subsidy had worsened economic hardship, pushing more citizens into poverty.

Atiku's statement appears to contradict a previous comment by one of his aides, Paul Ibe, who said that Atiku would not return Nigeria to the previous subsidy regime. Ibe suggested that Atiku's proposal would involve leveraging Nigeria's crude oil resources to support domestic refining and reduce the cost of petroleum products, with a plan to phase out the subsidy. However, Atiku distanced himself from Ibe's statement, saying he did not speak on his behalf.

Atiku's campaign has since clarified that his proposed petroleum intervention is not a return to the "discredited import-subsidy regime", but rather targeted support for domestic production designed to reduce the cost of living. According to Daily Trust, Atiku's team described Ibe's comments as "unauthorised, imprecise and materially misleading".

Brief written by urgent.news from Premium Times, Daily Post Nigeria, TheCable, Daily Trust — 4 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.