Kenneth Okonkwo, spokesperson for the 2027 presidential campaign of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, has defended Atiku’s proposal to restore petrol subsidy if elected president, arguing that the plan is designed to make fuel more affordable and does not represent a return to the subsidy system of the past.
Okonkwo made the clarification while appearing on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, where he responded to criticism of Atiku’s position and comments from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), had announced that he would restore petrol subsidy if elected in 2027. The proposal immediately generated controversy because the former vice-president had previously supported the removal of petrol subsidy during the 2023 presidential campaign.
Atiku has also criticised the Tinubu administration over the removal of the subsidy, particularly questioning what happened to the funds the Federal Government claimed were saved following the policy.
Reacting to Atiku’s proposal, Tinubu described the plan as evidence of what he called “serious ignorance of governance and economy.” The President argued that the former subsidy regime had placed a significant financial burden on the Nigerian government and contributed to economic distortions.
However, Okonkwo rejected Tinubu’s interpretation of Atiku’s proposal, insisting that the former vice-president was not advocating a return to the system that existed before the subsidy removal.
According to him, the central objective of Atiku’s proposal is to ensure that Nigerians can buy petrol at a price they can afford.
“The whole idea of the Atiku plan is affordability of fuel to the ordinary Nigerian,” Okonkwo said.
He further accused Tinubu of misunderstanding the proposal, arguing that the plan is fundamentally different from the previous subsidy arrangement.
“It is ignorance of Tinubu to say that Atiku wants to go back to the subsidy of the old,” he said.
Atiku Fuel Affordability Plan
Okonkwo said Atiku’s proposal, which he described as the Atiku Fuel Affordability Plan (AFAP), would rely heavily on Nigeria’s domestic refining capacity rather than the import-dependent system that characterised the previous subsidy regime.
He explained that the plan would involve ensuring that local refineries have access to crude oil at a price that would allow them to produce petrol at a lower cost.
According to him, the government would intervene by making crude oil available to domestic refiners at a fair price, thereby reducing the cost of producing refined petroleum products.
He quoted Atiku as saying:
“I will supply the needed crude to our local refineries at a price that will be fair enough for them to use to produce the fuel at a reduced and affordable price to Nigerians.”
Okonkwo argued that reducing the cost of crude supplied to domestic refineries would eventually reduce the price of petrol at the pump and make fuel more affordable for ordinary Nigerians.
Why Atiku’s Plan Is Different
The campaign spokesman stressed that Atiku’s proposal should not be confused with the old subsidy system, which he said was largely based on the importation of refined petroleum products.
According to him, Nigeria’s dependence on imported petrol created a system that was vulnerable to corruption and manipulation because the government had to pay importers to bridge the gap between the actual cost of imported fuel and the lower price paid by consumers.
Okonkwo argued that the situation was made worse by Nigeria’s inadequate refining capacity.
“This was the way the subsidy of the old operated. They were importing 100 per cent of the fuel. We didn’t have any refinery,” he said.
He alleged that the import-dependent arrangement created opportunities for the manipulation of import volumes, costs and subsidy claims, ultimately leaving the Nigerian taxpayer to bear the financial burden.
According to him, the proposal being presented by Atiku would avoid those problems by prioritising domestic refining.
Domestic Refineries at the Centre of the Proposal
Okonkwo maintained that Nigeria should be able to reduce its dependence on imported petroleum products by ensuring that its refineries have sufficient access to crude oil.
He argued that the country possesses the crude oil resources needed to produce petrol domestically and should therefore create the conditions required for local refineries to operate efficiently.
Under Atiku’s proposed approach, according to Okonkwo, the government would not simply pay importers to bring petrol into the country. Instead, it would help lower the cost of locally produced fuel by making crude oil available to domestic refineries at an affordable rate.
He said this would allow Nigerians to benefit from the country’s oil resources through lower fuel prices.
Okonkwo further argued that if successive administrations had invested adequately in domestic refining capacity and ensured sufficient fuel production, Nigeria might never have needed the kind of petrol subsidy regime that became a major source of controversy.
Atiku and the Tinubu Administration Clash Over Subsidy
The controversy over Atiku’s proposal has opened another front in the political battle between the former vice-president and the Tinubu administration ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Atiku has repeatedly criticised the removal of petrol subsidy by the Tinubu government, arguing that Nigerians have experienced significant hardship as a result of the policy.
The former vice-president has also questioned the management of the financial savings that the Federal Government said resulted from subsidy removal.
The Tinubu administration, however, has maintained that subsidy removal was necessary to reduce government expenditure and address the economic distortions associated with the old system.
The President has also repeatedly defended the reforms introduced by his administration, arguing that they are necessary to put Nigeria’s economy on a stronger and more sustainable footing.
‘Atiku Is Not Going Back to the Old Subsidy’
Despite the criticism, Okonkwo insisted that Atiku’s proposal should not be interpreted as a plan to revive the previous subsidy regime.
He argued that the distinction lies in how the policy would be implemented and where the government’s intervention would be directed.
According to him, Atiku’s proposal is focused on fuel affordability, domestic refining and access to cheaper crude, rather than returning to a system dominated by imported petrol and subsidy payments to importers.
“Atiku is not going back to that and cannot even go back to that,” Okonkwo said.
The debate is likely to remain a major issue in the 2027 presidential campaign, as political parties and candidates seek to convince Nigerians of their respective approaches to fuel prices, economic reforms, domestic refining and the broader management of Nigeria’s oil resources.
At the centre of the controversy is a fundamental question: Can government intervention make petrol affordable without recreating the corruption and financial burden associated with Nigeria’s former subsidy regime?
