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Otega Ogra, Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Digital and New Media, has criticised former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s proposal to subsidise crude oil for local refineries.
Ogra described the plan as a policy that “failed” when it was previously implemented under former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
He was reacting to Atiku’s proposal for a production subsidy for local refineries.
“Excuse me, sir. Nigeria already tried your production-subsidy to local refineries idea while you were Vice President. We know the shambolic results of that production subsidy. You know it too,” the media aide wrote in an X post on Friday.
Ogra said by 2002, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited had increased domestic crude allocation to 445,000 barrels per day (bpd), supplied to local refineries “on preferential terms”.
He said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated the revenue forgone from the arrangement at 3.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2002 and 2.9 percent in 2003.
“What did Nigerians get for it?” Ogra said, citing refinery utilisation figures which he attributed to the NNPC.
“Refinery utilisation collapsed,” he said.
According to Ogra, Warri refinery’s utilisation fell to 14.27 percent in 2003 and 9.1 percent in 2004, while Kaduna refinery recorded 15.96 percent and 26 percent, respectively.
He said Port Harcourt refinery’s utilisation also dropped from 60.73 percent in 2001 to 31.04 percent in 2004, adding that the preferential crude arrangement did not translate to lower petrol prices.
“Meanwhile, price of petrol more than tripled by 2004 and nearly quadrupled by the time you left office despite your production subsidy to local refiners,” he said.
The presidential aide said the policy was subsequently discontinued by the Obasanjo administration.
“On October 9, 2003, your same administration cancelled the discount itself through Presidential directive PRES/158,” Ogra said.
“President Obasanjo ordered NNPC to pay full international price for refinery crude. Your production subsidy was tried, failed and scrapped, with you as Vice President.”
Ogra challenged Atiku to show evidence that the policy worked before proposing it again.
“So… before selling Nigerians this failed production subsidy policy again, answer one simple question,” he said.
“I know there are many Nigerians who were too young to know what was happening then but if you may tell them, where is the evidence that it worked the first time?
“It’s still the same theory you practiced then, and we haven’t changed country yet.
“One thing we already have, are the failed results of that experiment, Alhaji”.
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), said the proposed policy would promote domestic refining instead of subsidising imported petrol.
