- Safiu Kehinde
The 2027 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has vowed to restore the fuel subsidy regime if elected President of Nigeria as he questioned President Bola Tinubu over the spending of the fund recovered from the subsidy removal.
Atiku claimed that the removal of the subsidy by Tinubu’s administration has failed to deliver the expected benefits to Nigerians.
Recall that Tinubu announced the removal of the petrol subsidy during his inaugural address in May 2023.
The move was followed by a sharp increase in fuel prices and the cost of goods and services.
However, the Federal Government defended the decision, stressing that subsidy removal has freed up resources for increased allocations to states and funding of infrastructure and other development projects.
NPO Reported that the Minister of Finance, Taiwo Oyedele, yesterday, disclosed that the Federal Government recorded N15.8 trillion revenue from subsidy savings from June 2023 to December 2025.
Oyedele claimed that the money was shared between the Federal, State, and Local Government.
“Out of this N15.8 trillion, saving from June 2023 to December 2025, the share of the Federal Government was N5.4 trillion. N10.8 trillion was shared to states and local governments.
“In additon, the federal government earned incremental independent revenue in the sum of N3.1 trillion from government-fund entities.” The minister had said.
However, Atiku, in a recent interview posted on X on Thursday, said the policy had failed to improve the welfare of Nigerians.
The former Vice President, who had previously supported the removal of the subsidy, said he had changed his position based on the alleged failure of the policy as he demanded the whereabout of the recovered fund.
“I initially did not oppose the removal of the fuel subsidy. But now that it has been removed, where is the money? Where has the subsidy money gone? Has it been used to improve healthcare, education or security?” He said.
The former vice president added, “If I win the presidential election, I will restore the subsidy. And anyone who stole Nigeria’s subsidy funds must return the money.”