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Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has promised to restore the petrol subsidy if elected president in the 2027 general election, arguing that Nigerians have yet to see the benefits of savings from its removal.
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), made the pledge during an interview on Wednesday while questioning how funds saved following the subsidy removal had been utilised.
He said he did not oppose the decision to remove the subsidy but criticised the government for failing to adequately account for the resources generated from the policy.
“I did not oppose the removal of the oil subsidy, but where is the money? Where did it go? It was intended to reduce poverty and help children attend school. Where is the money now? It seems they are just stealing it,” Atiku said in Hausa.
He added: “If elected, I will bring back the oil subsidy, and whoever stole the money must refund it.”
According to Atiku, subsidy removal could have been beneficial if the resulting savings had been invested in critical areas such as security, education, poverty reduction and job creation.
“The government successfully removed the subsidy, but we do not know where the money went. If they had used the money for development, to solve security problems, for education, and to create opportunities for the youth, it would be different,” he said.
“If elected, I can remove the subsidy and use the money to do all these properly.”
President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of the petrol subsidy during his inauguration on May 29, 2023, triggering a sharp rise in fuel prices and increasing the cost of living across the country.
The policy has also boosted allocations shared among the federal, state and local governments through the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), with several state governors acknowledging increased monthly receipts.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Taiwo Oyedele said on Wednesday that the removal of the petrol subsidy had generated N15.8 trillion in additional resources for the federation between June 2023 and December 2025.
Oyedele explained that the increase reflected higher revenue collections, including the impact of the naira value of dollar-denominated transactions following the foreign exchange reforms.
