Atiku will restore subsidy and remove it later, says aide

Atiku will restore subsidy and remove it later, says aide

Paul Ibe, spokesperson for Atiku Abubakar, says the former vice-president would restore petrol subsidy if elected president in 2027 and phase it out later.

Speaking on AIT, Ibe said the temporary intervention would give Nigerians and businesses room to recover, stimulate economic activity and improve productivity.

He said the proposal would not revive the old subsidy regime but would instead tie government support to crude oil production and domestic refining.

“We are not returning to Egypt. We are not going back to the old regime that was opaque,” Ibe said.

“What he’s simply saying is that the subsidy that he is advocating will be tied to the barrel, the crude oil barrel.

“This is perhaps the only thing that we have in so much abundance that Nigerians have not yet benefited from.”

According to him, crude oil would be supplied to local refiners at a discounted price to enable them produce petrol and diesel at lower costs.

He said the cheaper production cost would ultimately translate into lower pump prices for consumers.

“The crude oil will be sold at a discounted price, subsidised to refiners, and that will enable refiners to be able to produce fuel and diesel at a cheap cost. And when they produce cheaply, they will sell at the real pump price,” he said.

Ibe said an independent committee would determine the appropriate price at the refinery, taking prevailing market conditions into consideration.

He added that although the downstream petroleum sector had been deregulated, government could still monitor prices to ensure that refiners and marketers operated within the framework of the policy.

“There’ll be a window because, of course, we deregulated. You may not fix the price but you can have price monitoring to ensure that everybody aligns with what government hopes to achieve,” he said.

‘IT WILL BE FOR A PERIOD’

Ibe said the proposed intervention would be implemented for a limited period to stimulate economic activity and improve productivity.

“Yes, if you recall, his argument, even in 2023, was that they’re going to have recourse to having a phased removal,” he said.

He criticised the Tinubu administration for removing petrol subsidy alongside other major economic reforms without allowing the economy to adjust.

“No surgeon, no doctor would carry out two or more serious major surgeries, one after the other. They would do one, allow the patient to recuperate, and then undertake the second, or the third,” Ibe said.

“But what has this administration done? The issue of subsidy, flippant. No cabinet. No advisers. Just in the heat of the moment, it has been removed. No shock absorbers. Nothing. No palliatives. Absolutely nothing.”

He said the simultaneous removal of petrol subsidy, deregulation of foreign exchange and electricity subsidy had compounded the economic difficulties facing Nigerians.

Ibe said the proposed intervention was necessary to give Nigerians and businesses room to recover and increase productivity.

“You need to give Nigerians and give manufacturers an opportunity to ensure that there is productivity,” he said.

“There is little or no productivity in this economy because, I mean, you talk about paying salary, that’s what they are doing there. There is no creativity. They’re simply having plenty of naira as a result of the devaluation.”

He said Atiku’s economic plan would also focus on diversifying the economy beyond dependence on crude oil.

“We also need to start thinking about an economy that is beyond the oil economy. We need to diversify our economy,” Ibe said.

Ibe’s comments come amid an ongoing dispute between Atiku and President Bola Tinubu over the former vice-president’s proposal to restore petrol subsidy.

Tinubu had described Atiku’s proposal as evidence of “serious ignorance on governance and economy”.

Atiku subsequently rejected the criticism, saying his proposal was not a return to the old subsidy regime but a targeted, capped, budgeted and independently audited intervention designed to support domestic production.

Sourced from The Cable

Paul Ibe