Former Vise President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has dismissed claims that his administration will bring back the old fuel import subsidy regime in Nigeria, saying that any intervention in the sector under his watch will be focused, short-term and measurable.
The remark from Atiku came after one of his advisers was quoted as saying that an Atiku government would bring back fuel subsidy just to withdraw it later.
Atiku’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, in a statement, said the comments were a “unauthorised, imprecise and materially misleading characterization” of the former vice president’s policies.
He said: “Atiku never promised to return to the old subsidy regime as such should not be credited to the ADC candidate.
“Let me make it clear that Atiku has never talked about going back to the past import-subsidy regime and then removing it on a predetermined date. That is not his policy and should not be put down to him,” he said.
Atiku’s proposed petroleum intervention instead, he said, would focus on helping domestic refining and production to lower costs, expand supply and strengthen competitiveness.
He said the intervention would have a capped, transparent budget and be independently audited with performance-based requirements for when government help would be tapered back.
“What Atiku is proposing is a targeted, capped, transparently budgeted and independently audited intervention to support domestic refining and production with measurable performance-based exit conditions baked in from day one,” Shaibu added.
The aim was not to subsidise inefficiency for ever, but to create the conditions in which government help was ultimately not needed, he said.
He said the withdrawal of the assistance will hinge on concrete, demonstrable gains and not on an arbitrary date on a calendar.
These include, he said, more local refining, better stability of supply, more competition and establishment of a market that can provide affordable petroleum products without continuous government backing.
You don’t take scaffolding down because it’s the date on the calendar. You take it away when the building is safe to stand by itself.”
The former vice president’s spokesman also said the dispute about the word subsidy should not detract from what he called the more immediate crisis facing Nigerians – the rising expense of living.
“The question is simple, why has everything become so expensive and what will Atiku do to make life affordable again?” Shaibu asked.
He accused the President Bola Tinubu administration of shifting the burden of its economic reforms to Nigerian households, whilst promising that an Atiku government will be focused on reducing production and transportation costs, strengthening domestic refining, increasing supply and restoring purchasing power.
“It is not subsidy removal or subsidy restoration. “The choice is between an Expensive Nigeria and an Affordable Nigeria,” added Shaibu.
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