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.
