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From Jude Chinedu, Enugu
Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) Peter Obi, has clarified his position on fuel subsidy, saying there was no disagreement between him and former Kano State governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, over the issue.
Obi, who spoke at the 2026 All Nigeria Editors Conference (ANEC), organised by the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) at the Enugu International Conference Centre (ICC), said what Kwankwaso proposed was not the outright removal of subsidy but the introduction of a different approach to the subsidy regime.
He spoke against the backdrop of reports that he and Kwankwaso held divergent positions on fuel subsidy, stressing that both had identified corruption in the system as a major problem.
“The talk is about how Kwankwaso and I differed on subsidies. No, we didn’t. What Kwankwaso said is that we will introduce our own style of subsidy. In fact, he didn’t say he would remove it,” Obi said.
He argued that the major challenge was not necessarily the availability of resources but how public funds were managed, insisting that Nigeria could fund critical sectors if corruption was substantially reduced.
“If you remove the corruption in subsidy, there might not be subsidy,” he said, describing the subsidy regime as having been characterised by “huge corruption”.
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Obi also questioned the level of funding allocated to healthcare infrastructure, saying the country could use the savings from fuel subsidies to improve medical services.
According to him, Nigeria needs about 1,000 kidney centres and thousands of dialysis machines to address kidney-related diseases.
He estimated that establishing 1,000 kidney centres, each equipped with five machines, would cost about N250 billion.
He also proposed the construction of more cancer treatment centres, saying about N100 billion would be required to establish 20 centres at an estimated N5 billion each.
“People will say, ‘Where are you going to get the money?’ The money is there!” Obi said, referring to the reported N15.8 trillion saved from fuel subsidy.
He also advocated greater investment in primary healthcare, saying only about 10 per cent of primary healthcare facilities were functional.
Obi said the government could establish 10,000 primary healthcare centres at an estimated cost of N1 trillion, arguing that the money could come from the savings from subsidy removal.
