The presidential candidate of the Nigerian Democratic Party, Peter Obi, has disagreed with the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, over his proposal to restore fuel subsidy if elected president in 2027.
Obi, however, faulted the Federal Government’s management of the funds saved from the removal of the subsidy, alleging that the proceeds had been mismanaged.
The former Anambra State governor spoke on Monday at the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, while reacting to the ongoing debate over the future of fuel subsidy.
Atiku, who advocated the removal of fuel subsidy during the 2023 presidential election, has said he would reintroduce the policy if elected in 2027.
Obi maintained that subsidy removal was necessary but argued that the major problem was the failure to properly manage and invest the resources saved from the policy.
“I subscribe and I maintain that we need to remove subsidy. Mismanagement of the proceeds should not be the reason for not removing it,” Obi said.
According to him, the government should have provided alternatives to cushion the impact of subsidy removal on Nigerians while ensuring that the savings were channelled into productive sectors of the economy.
“What we should have done is that when we removed it, we should have given the people alternative usage for the subsidy,” he said.
Obi alleged that the resources recovered following the subsidy removal had not been properly managed and were being “mismanaged and stolen.”
“What we have today is that that removal and the attendant resources being recovered is also being mismanaged and stolen,” he said.
The former governor said he had anticipated the need for a structured approach to subsidy removal and outlined his position in his manifesto ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
“Go to my manifesto, I said it before, I said I will do it in an organised manner and whatever we recover would be invested appropriately,” Obi said.
President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of the petrol subsidy on his inauguration day in May 2023, a decision that triggered a sharp increase in petrol prices and intensified concerns over the rising cost of living.
The Federal Government has continued to defend the policy as necessary to reduce fiscal pressure and redirect public resources towards development, while opposition figures have criticised its implementation and questioned how the resulting savings have been utilised.
