The Presidential Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress (APC-PCC) has challenged former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to explain the legal, fiscal and operational framework for his proposed production subsidy on locally refined petrol. The challenge followed Atiku’s renewed call for the Federal Government to reduce petrol and diesel prices, including through government support for domestic refining. Atiku said his proposed production subsidy would support Nigerian refineries while making locally refined petrol cheaper for consumers.
In a statement issued on Sunday by its spokesman, Dele Alake, the APC-PCC questioned how the proposal would operate within the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021. The council cited Section 205(1), which provides for wholesale and retail petroleum prices to be based on unrestricted free-market conditions. This position was reinforced by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), which said it does not fix pump prices and that government intervention is restricted to exceptional circumstances involving formally established market failure.
The APC-PCC asked Atiku to clarify whether refineries benefiting from the proposed subsidy would be required to sell petrol at a prescribed price. According to the council, if such a price condition is envisaged, Atiku should identify the legal provision that would permit it; if not, he should explain what mechanism would ensure that government support to refiners translates into lower prices at filling stations. The council also demanded details of the proposed subsidy rate, annual spending limit, volume of crude or petrol to be covered, funding source and safeguards against diversion, smuggling and fraudulent claims.
The council further questioned the fiscal implications of the proposal, arguing that preferentially priced crude for domestic refineries could reduce revenue accruing to the Federation. It claimed, based on its stated assumptions about refinery throughput and domestic petrol supply, that the intervention could cost between ₦17 trillion and ₦21 trillion annually, depending on the level of discount and volume covered. The APC-PCC said Atiku should provide an independently verifiable cost analysis rather than leave Nigerians to determine the potential financial burden from broad estimates.
The APC-PCC also challenged Atiku to reconcile his current position with his previous advocacy for downstream deregulation. The council recalled Atiku’s 2022 comments at Lagos Business School in which he described the existing subsidy regime as fraudulent and pledged to complete its removal. It also cited Atiku’s August 25, 2026 declaration, “I will restore it!”, noting that he is now proposing a production-based intervention rather than simply returning to the former subsidy arrangement.
Highlighting the Tinubu administration’s alternative approach, the APC-PCC pointed to its expansion of compressed natural gas (CNG) and electric transport initiatives as measures aimed at reducing transportation costs without returning to a broad petrol subsidy regime. The council said the government was also working with the NMDPRA, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and Nigeria Customs Service on issues including price-gouging, anti-competitive practices and cross-border diversion of petroleum products. NMDPRA separately confirmed that it is strengthening surveillance and enforcement against such practices.
The APC-PCC concluded by urging Atiku to publish a detailed policy document alongside independent legal and fiscal analyses of his production-subsidy proposal. Alake said the council believes any intervention in the downstream petroleum sector should be lawful, transparent, properly costed and capable of producing measurable benefits for consumers. The statement ended with a political criticism of Atiku’s proposal, including a reference to former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s description of Atiku in My Watch, and urged the former vice president to study the PIA and current dynamics of Nigeria’s oil sector.
