ADC Defends Atiku’s Subsidy Plan, Saying Nigerians Deserve Cheaper Fuel

Nigeria’s African Democratic Congress is defending Atiku Abubakar’s plan to bring petrol prices down to about 600 naira per litre, arguing that it would not revive the country’s old opaque subsidy regime.

The party says the proposal would instead create a controlled production incentive for Nigerian refineries. It would include a fiscal ceiling and systems to track crude from refinery intake through to finished petroleum products, according to a statement by ADC National Publicity Secretary Bolaji Abdullahi.

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What the Presidency is attacking therefore is the old subsidy regime that Atiku is seeking to replace, not Atiku’s plan.

The proposal followed criticism from President Bola Tinubu’s administration, which has challenged the estimated 19.1 trillion-naira cost of the intervention. ADC said that figure should not be considered in isolation. Nigerians already pay for high fuel prices through increased transport fares, food prices, production costs and other household expenses, the party said.

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We are at a loss as to how the presidency conjured up this phantom figure. But we do not agree with it.

“What the Presidency is attacking therefore is the old subsidy regime that Atiku is seeking to replace, not Atiku’s plan,” ADC said. The party also rejected what it described as the presidency’s hypothetical 40-dollar-per-barrel subsidy estimate. “We are at a loss as to how the presidency conjured up this phantom figure. But we do not agree with it,” Abdullahi said.

ADC compared the proposed refinery incentive with fiscal measures already available to oil producers, including offshore production incentives of up to 11.50 dollars per barrel. “If Nigeria can provide a production-linked fiscal incentive of up to $11.50 per barrel to stimulate offshore oil production, why is a carefully controlled crude-input incentive for domestic refineries dismissed as economic madness when its objective is to make fuel cheaper for Nigerians and build domestic refining capacity?” Abdullahi asked. The party said expanded domestic refining could reduce imports, save foreign exchange, lower production costs and support refined-product exports.

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If Nigeria can provide a production-linked fiscal incentive of up to $11.50 per barrel to stimulate offshore oil production, why is a carefully controlled crude-input incentive for domestic refineries dismissed as economic madness when its objective is to make fuel cheaper for Nigerians and build domestic refining capacity?