Former vice President Atiku Abubakar and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has slammed President Bola Tinubu over his 30-Day discount on petrol price, saying that Nigerians need permanently affordable rates.
According to a statement on Thursday by Atiku media, the announcement by the Tinubu administration of a 30-day petrol discount at NNPC filling stations exposes the contradictions and political opportunism that have characterised the government’s handling of the fuel subsidy question.
He challenged the administration to publish the details of its proposed price modulation, disclose the financial implications, identify all participating outlets and explain how Nigerians without access to NNPC stations will benefit.
He noted that for months, Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have insisted that petrol subsidy is gone for good. The statement reads, “When Atiku Abubakar proposed a transparent, production-based subsidy to make locally refined petrol affordable, the administration and its propagandists dismissed the proposal as economically reckless.
“Today, the same administration is announcing government-negotiated price ceilings, discounted petrol sales and arrangements to cushion consumers against market fluctuations.
Atiku wondered what has changed, “the economic realities or the approach of the 2027 general elections?”
“While we welcome any genuine attempt to reduce the suffering of Nigerians, a temporary intervention mustn’t become another exercise in political window-dressing.
“NNPC Retail has a network of more than 900 outlets nationwide. Spread across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, that represents an average of roughly 25 stations per state and the FCT, although the actual distribution is far from uniform.
“What happens to Nigerians living in communities without NNPC filling stations? Must they travel long distances, spending scarce money on transport, to access a government-sponsored discount?
“More troubling is NNPC’s own July 2026 report, which placed petrol availability across its retail network at just 52 per cent.
“How does a government that has struggled to guarantee consistent petrol availability across its own retail network intend to deliver meaningful nationwide relief through that same network?
He faulted the government’s increasingly convenient definition of subsidy, stressing that the Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele insists that the proposed interventions are neither subsidies nor price controls. “Yet the government is negotiating a ceiling below which petrol costs may be held, while proposing that refiners and importers recover any resulting shortfall when market conditions improve.
“Who ultimately bears that shortfall? How will it be recovered? Will public resources, NNPC revenues or future consumers carry the burden?
“An intervention that transfers costs, postpones their recovery or uses public resources to make petrol cheaper raises legitimate subsidy-related questions that cannot be dismissed by changing its name.
He questioned why Nigerians must settle for 30 days of selective relief after more than three years of escalating hardship.
“Nigerians need permanently affordable petrol, not an election-season discount that expires after 30 days.”
Comparing that to his model, Atiku noted that his production-based subsidy proposal offers a more coherent direction: “support domestic refining through transparent, targeted and time-bound crude-pricing arrangements, with safeguards to ensure that lower production costs translate into lower pump prices for consumers across the country.
“It’s designed to strengthen local production, reduce avoidable costs and provide relief beyond a handful of retail outlets.”
He added, “Interestingly, the Tinubu administration is now also discussing forward crude sales to domestic refiners. This reinforces the case for examining production-side interventions rather than treating them as economic heresy simply because Atiku proposed them.
“The Tinubu government cannot condemn Atiku’s proposal in September and embrace the logic of petrol-price intervention in October while pretending there is no contradiction.
“Policies are made for the welfare of people. People are not created to suffer for the sake of policies.
“Most importantly, the government must explain how this intervention will translate into lower transport fares, cheaper food and meaningful reductions in the cost of living.”
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