KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Former Kogi West Senator, Dino Melaye, said Atiku Abubakar’s plan to restore petrol subsidy could crash pump price to ₦400-₦500 per litre.
- Melaye said on AIT’s Democracy Today on Monday that petrol now sells around ₦1,400, and subsidy return would cut transport costs and reduce prices of goods.
- Atiku, the ADC presidential candidate for 2027, announced his campaign council on Thursday, while President Bola Tinubu dismissed the subsidy plan as ignorant.
Former Kogi West Senator Dino Melaye has said the plan by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar to restore petrol subsidy could bring the price of fuel down to between ₦400 and ₦500 per litre if implemented.
Melaye, a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), made the statement on Monday while appearing on the Democracy Today programme on African Independent Television (AIT), Naija News reports.
According to him, the proposed return of subsidy is part of the ADC’s plan to make life more affordable for Nigerians.
“Atiku is saying he will take these things from the few people and give them back to the people. By so doing, the possible concomitant effect is that there will be a reduction in the price of petroleum products,” he said.
“Once there is a reduction in price from ₦1,400, you will start buying fuel at ₦500 or ₦400; definitely it’s going to have resultant effects on every other price of goods and commodities.”
Atiku, the ADC presidential candidate for the 2027 election, announced his campaign council on Thursday, with Melaye appointed to head the contact and mobilization directorate.
In August, Atiku said he would restore the petrol subsidy if elected president in 2027.
The former Vice-President, who spoke in Hausa during an interview with an ADC media group, also accused the administration of President Bola Tinubu of failing to account for the funds saved from the removal of the petrol subsidy.
Tinubu, however, rejected Atiku’s proposal, describing it as evidence of “serious ignorance of governance and economy”.
The President said some states had struggled to pay salaries and pensions before he assumed office, adding that the removal of the subsidy had made more funds available to state governments.
Melaye argued that the high cost of petrol had contributed to the rising cost of living, stressing that Nigerians across political parties buy fuel from the same market.
“Today, there is no APC market or petrol station. We all go to the same market. We buy fuel at ₦1,400. So everybody is concerned that you have moved us from hunger into compulsory fasting. The country is completely gone, economically and otherwise,” he said.
“What ADC is saying is that we are going to make Nigeria affordable again by bringing back fuel subsidy,” he added.
The former senator said the price of petrol has a direct effect on transportation and the movement of goods and commodities.
“Everything revolves around subsidy. Once transportation is affected, movement of goods and commodities will be affected,” he said.
“Aviation fuel is also affecting movement in the air. So, the fuel is the interconnector to every other facet of the economy.”
Melaye also alleged that corruption, rather than the subsidy itself, was responsible for the loss of public funds.
“Ab initio, there is no subsidy. What you have is corruption, money being stolen. So, we are replacing corruption now by leveraging the people. What few corrupt individuals are taking away, we are taking it back to the people,” he said.
He further compared borrowing under the Tinubu administration with that of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to Melaye, Buhari borrowed ₦87 trillion during his eight-year administration while petrol subsidy was still in place, whereas Tinubu had borrowed ₦157 trillion in three years without paying subsidy.
“During Buhari’s time, with fuel subsidy, Buhari borrowed ₦87 trillion in eight years. But Tinubu, in three years without paying subsidy, borrowed ₦157 trillion. Why will you be borrowing when you are making more?” he asked.
