Presidency Critiques Atiku's Fuel Subsidy Proposal

The Presidency, represented by Otega Ogra, Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Digital and New Media, has criticized former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar's proposal to subsidize crude supplied to local refineries. Ogra stated that a similar policy was attempted during Olusegun Obasanjo's presidency and failed.

Atiku's proposal aimed to reduce the cost of locally refined petrol by supporting domestic refining rather than subsidizing imported petroleum products. Ogra responded on the platform 𝕏, asserting that Nigeria had previously tried the production-subsidy idea while Atiku was Vice-President, citing poor results.

He provided refinery utilization figures, noting that the Warri Refining and Petrochemicals Company had utilization rates of 14.27% in 2003 and 9.1% in 2004, while the Kaduna refinery recorded rates of 15.96% and 26% in the same years. The Port Harcourt refinery's utilization dropped from 60.73% in 2001 to 31.04% in 2004.

Ogra concluded that the policy did not prevent petrol prices from rising during that period.