The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has disagreed with the plans by his African Democratic Congress (ADC) counterpart, Atiku Abubakar, to restore fuel subsidy in Nigeria if elected in 2027.
Speaking on Monday at the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Obi agreed with the removal of the fuel subsidy but insisted the government has poorly managed the savings from the policy.
He argued that the government’s poor management is not a reason to reverse the policy.
NEWSNGR reports that the former Anambra State Governor added that the Tinubu administration also failed to put proper measures in place to protect Nigerians from the immediate effects of the policy.
Obi said, “I subscribe and I maintain that we need to remove subsidy. Mismanagement of the proceeds should not be the reason for not removing it.”
He added that the government was expected to provide alternatives and a cushion to the people while ensuring that proceeds from the fuel subsidy removal are directed into productive areas that would improve the economy.
“What we should have done is that when we removed it, we should have given the people alternative usage for the subsidy,” he said.
The NDC Presidential candidate, who alleged that the resources saved from subsidy removal had been mismanaged and stolen, said that the problem was not the removal itself but how the resulting funds were handled, adding that he had proposed a structured approach to subsidy removal in his manifesto before the 2023 presidential election.
He argued that if he were in position, the fuel subsidy removal would be properly managed and the proceeds rightly used for the benefit of Nigerians.
“Go to my manifesto, I said it before, I said I will do it in an organised manner and whatever we recover would be invested appropriately,” he said.
