Atiku’s plan to restore fuel subsidy will cripple Nigeria, Onanuga warns

The Presidency has criticised former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s proposal to restore fuel subsidy, describing it as fiscally unsustainable and a reversal of reforms in Nigeria’s petroleum sector.

The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in a statement on Thursday titled Restoring Petrol Subsidies: Atiku’s Volte-Face and Desperation for Power, said Atiku’s proposal failed to account for the changes that have taken place in Nigeria’s petroleum industry since the removal of the subsidy.

He said Atiku had previously advocated the removal of petrol subsidy but had now reversed his position ahead of the 2027 general election.

According to him, restoring the subsidy would require a clear legal, fiscal and administrative framework, including identifying the source of funding and determining how the policy would operate under the current petroleum market structure.

“The subsidy regime that Nigerians knew before May 2023 was dismantled as part of the country’s petroleum-sector reforms,” Onanuga said.

He noted that the Petroleum Industry Act had established a new framework for the downstream petroleum market and provided for the removal of subsidy by the end of June 2023.

Onanuga said President Tinubu only accelerated the process by a few weeks to prevent further losses to government.

He also rejected Atiku’s claim that the Federal Government had accumulated about N30 trillion in subsidy savings.

“Contrary to Atiku’s claim in his interview, no N30 trillion subsidy windfall or savings exists anywhere except in his imagination,” he said.