ABUJA — Kenneth Okonkwo, spokesperson for the 2027 presidential campaign of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, has dismissed criticism of Atiku’s plan to restore petrol subsidy if elected, saying the proposal is aimed at reducing fuel prices and has nothing to do with the subsidy regime of the past.
Okonkwo, who spoke on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu misunderstood the policy proposed by Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC.
Atiku had, on Wednesday, said he would restore petrol subsidy if elected president in 2027, a position that immediately generated controversy, particularly over his reported advocacy for subsidy removal during the 2023 presidential campaign. The former vice-president had also accused the Tinubu administration of failing to account for the funds saved from the removal of petrol subsidy.
Reacting to the proposal, Tinubu described it as evidence of serious ignorance of governance and economy, arguing that the subsidy regime had imposed a heavy financial burden on the country.
But Okonkwo said Atiku was not proposing a return to the old system, which he described as a product of excessive dependence on imported petrol and alleged manipulation of subsidy payments. He explained that the whole idea behind Atiku’s plan was affordability of fuel for the ordinary Nigerian, and argued that it was ignorant of Tinubu to suggest that Atiku wanted to return to the old subsidy regime.
According to Okonkwo, Atiku’s proposal, which he called the Atiku Fuel Affordability Plan (AFAP), is predicated on the availability of domestic refining capacity and government intervention to ensure that local refineries obtain crude oil at affordable prices. He argued that making crude available to domestic refineries at a fair price would lower production costs and ultimately make petrol more affordable to consumers, explaining that Atiku’s plan involved supplying local refineries with crude at a price fair enough to allow them to produce fuel at a reduced and affordable rate for Nigerians.
The campaign spokesman argued that Nigeria would not have required a petrol subsidy in the first place if successive governments had ensured adequate domestic refining capacity and sufficient fuel supply. He said the old subsidy regime became associated with corruption because the country relied heavily on imported petrol, noting that under that arrangement, Nigeria was importing 100 per cent of its fuel with no functioning refineries of its own.
Okonkwo alleged that the system created opportunities for manipulation of import volumes and prices, with Nigerians ultimately bearing the cost. He, however, insisted that such a system was not what Atiku was proposing, stressing that Atiku was not going back to that model and could not even do so under the current plan.
