Eniola Yekini
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar said the call by the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) on government to intervene in the domestic refining of fuel to reduce cost of petrol has corroborated his proposal on subsidy reform.
Atiku who is the candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in next year’s presidential election, has promised to restore fuel subsidy, if elected.
The former Vice President in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said IPMAN’s positions, though belatedly, is aligned with the central economic principle behind his plan to make energy affordable again to Nigerians
“IPMAN’s intervention was significant because it came from people who buy, distribute and sell petroleum products every day and therefore understand, beyond government propaganda, what expensive petrol is doing to businesses and Nigerian families,” Atiku stated.
The ADC’s candidate said President Bola Tinubu is deliberately confusing the import-subsidy with a transparent, production-linked intervention that strengthens Nigerian refining and delivers measurable relief to Nigerian consumers.
Atiku argued that it is not economically wise for Nigeria which produces crude oil and possess the raw material, to fail to maximise its processing at home and then tell Nigerians that unaffordable fuel is the price they must pay for reform.
“My principle is simple: subsidy follows the barrel. Strengthen the Nigerian barrel, strengthen Nigerian refining and ensure that the benefit follows that barrel all the way to the Nigerian consumer,” he contended.
The former vice president said the proposal would also strengthen important objectives of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), including promoting petroleum processing within Nigeria and ensuring safe and affordable access to petroleum products.
“The law itself recognises that local refining and affordability matter; a policy that expands domestic refining capacity while lowering the burden on consumers therefore advances the direction of the PIA.
“What is the value of producing crude oil if the taxi driver in Kano, the teacher commuting from Kubwa, the trader in Onitsha or the farmer moving produce to Lagos cannot afford the fuel derived from it?” Atiku asked.
He stated that by celebrating subsidy removal as an economic triumph, President Tinubu has increasingly detached from the reality confronting ordinary Nigerians.
“The real test of petrol policy is not how cheap one litre appears after somebody converts it into dollars. The real question is how much of a Nigerian’s income and labour it consumes,” he said.
The ADC candidate disclosed that DailyFuels Fuel Affordability Index places Nigeria at number 91 on its affordability ranking and estimates that the average Nigerian requires about 44 minutes of work to afford one litre of petrol.
“A 40-litre tank represents about 29.5 hours of work under its methodology,” Atiku said, arguing that petrol might appear cheap when converted into dollars and compared with richer countries, but Nigerians do not earn American or European salaries.
He stated that his targeted intervention is fundamentally a cost-of-living policy, adding, when energy costs rise, transportation, food, production and distribution rise with them.
The former vice president said IPMAN’s intervention should now move beyond commentary and become part of the solution Nigerians will need from 2027, and called on the association to join him in projecting the policy by bringing its experience, market knowledge and advisory capacity into the monitoring and implementation of this policy when we assume office in 2027.
“The people who buy, distribute and sell petroleum products every day know where distortions occur, where leakages hide and where good policy can be sabotaged between the refinery gate and the filling station. That knowledge must be put at the service of Nigerians,” he said.