Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has explained that his plan to restore fuel subsidy is aimed at supporting local refining and reducing the cost of petrol, rather than subsidising imported fuel.
Atiku made the clarification in a series of posts on his X platform on Saturday, saying his proposed policy would amount to a “production subsidy” rather than an import subsidy.
He explained that the government would support crude oil refined in Nigeria to enable domestic refineries to produce petrol at lower costs and pass the savings to consumers.
Using shoemaking as an analogy, Atiku said government could either spend public funds to make imported shoes cheaper or support local shoemakers in Aba to reduce their production costs, create jobs and sell at more affordable prices.
“I choose the Aba shoemaker,” he said.
