Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), has tagged fuel subsidy in Nigeria as a fraud.
He stated this in a recent interaction with attendees of the Lagos Business School 2022 Alumnia Day.
According to data from Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and oil sector operators, the Federal Government spends N1.243 trillion to subsidize fuel monthly, as N600 is spent as subsidy on every litre of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) consumed by Nigerians.
While reacting to comments from guests who included businessmen and private sector players, the former vice president of Nigeria noted how the PDP government had phased out subsidy in batches.
According to him, “I was the chairman for the removal of fuel subsidy committee and I recall how we removed the phase 1 and phase 2 of fuel subsidy. I will continue from were we stopped, remove fuel subsidy totally and channel the subsidy funds back to the economy. In other words, it’s just a fraud.”
Atiku described Nigeria’s debt situation as a mess, saying he would fix it if elected president.
“If you are talking about foreign debt, we have done it before, I will engage our creditors and ask for debt forgiveness or cancellation like we did before. Coming to local debt, if we stabilize the economy, we will borrow less, propose a flexible payment plan.
“Again, I want you to compare our records with the current government and you can see who did well economically,” he said.
While making clarifications in the areas of oil and gas sector, the standard flag bearer in the 2023 presidential election stated that he will reform the sector by ensuring the right investors are engaged such that Nigeria’s crude production increases while ensuring the privatization of the three refineries in the country.
He maintained that with such policies in place, it will ultimately make Nigeria an oil production hub.
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