The Presidency has criticised former Vice President Atiku Abubakar over his proposal to restore petrol subsidy if elected president, describing the policy as “retrogressive” and fiscally unsustainable.
It said Atiku’s position represented a departure from his previous stance on petrol subsidy and urged him to explain how the proposed policy would be funded.
The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, stated this in a release on Thursday titled, “Restoring petrol subsidies: Atiku’s volte-face and desperation for power.”
Onanuga said Atiku, who previously advocated the removal of fuel subsidy, had now “opportunistically recanted” his position ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Onanuga described the subsidy regime as “much-abused, wasteful, pillaged, corruption-ridden,” which he said had been made illegal from the end of June 2023, owing to the Petroleum Industry Act.
